Something Right
by Catfish98
Summary: Chapter 19: FINALLY! The final battle. Knives is redeemed. Wosh tells his secret. One chapter left.
1. Welcome to New Virginia

Sup! Here's my disclaimer, yo:

Even though owning Trigun characters might be fun, I think they'd probably be pretty high-maintenance, and I don't think I could handle the responsibility. Therefore, all characters belong to whoever owns them!

Note: The story switches back and forth between Vash's and Meryl's POV. THIS WILL BE A V/M 'FIC, SO IF YOU'RE ONE OF THOSE MESSED UP VASH/WOLFWOOD YAOI PEOPLE…WELL, I GUESS YOU'LL BE DISAPPOINTED CUZ WOLFWOOD'S _DEAD!_ **_DEAD, Y'HEAR???_** *Has emotional breakdown, and is escorted away by many low-maintenance characters she has kidnapped and keeps locked in her basement*

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It's strange how sometimes, humans can adapt to changes so well and so quickly that they can hardly remember what life was like before those changes took place.

That's the way it was after Vash came back.

In the shock and all-powerful relief after he returned, I forgot to be Meryl, the temperamental insurance girl. I forgot to be Meryl the bitchy stickler. I think that I was actually enjoying myself.

Two weeks after his return, Vash deemed that he, Milly, and I should go out for the night. At that point, it had been so long since I'd actually gone out for my own personal enjoyment that I just stared at him blankly for a few moments.

"What?" I asked stupidly.

Vash looked sheepish and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I thought that maybe we could go out…have something to eat…a few drinks…you know. We don't have to if you don't want to."

"That would be wonderful, Mr. Vash!" Milly said happily. "Can we Meryl? Can we?" She looked at me hopefully.

"I guess I'm outnumbered, then." I chuckled inwardly at the identical, shimmering puppy-dog eyes both Vash and Milly were giving me. "What time?"

Milly shouted "Yay, Meryl!" and Vash beamed at me in that way of his that made my insides turn into molasses. 

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"What restaurant were you planning on? There isn't exactly the best selection in this little village." Meryl asked me.

"Well, there's a really fancy place a few hundred iles from here that I've heard of. It's sorta far, so we'd have to stay in a hotel for a night because I'd doubt you'd want to make the drive back in the middle of the night." I traced patterns on the grain of the wood in the table with the tip of my finger contemplatively.

"I'm off to pack!" Milly said with enthusiasm, quickly disappearing into the next room.

"What about Knives?" Meryl asked in a low voice, her face becoming serious.

My hand clenched instinctively at the mention of his name. "He isn't showing any indication of waking up any time soon…" I drew in a deep breath and my eyebrows furrowed in thought. "I don't like taking this kind of chance, but I think we all need a little vacation." I attempted to make myself look carefree, but inside I felt a deep sense of foreboding. I looked up at Meryl, and from the dead serious look on her face, I could tell she could see right through my façade.

"Vash…if you don't feel comfortable leaving him here, then don't let us force you to."

"No, I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't want to do it!" I smiled at the overly-serious look on her face. "I'll think of something, don't worry."

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We left for the town of New Virginia a little after noon.

Milly and I had to make an emergency trip to the dressmaker since we didn't have any formal clothes with us, and Vash spent a rather hectic time at the tailor's trying to find a tux that was big enough for his tall stature.

We must have been quite a sight on the crowded bus, all of us laden with hangers covered with plastic sheets and awkwardly holding our various bags so that our hard-earned dress clothes didn't get wrinkled.

When I asked Vash how he had found a way to stop Knives from escaping from the house if he woke up, he merely shrugged and told me not to worry. Of course, this didn't stop me from worrying my ass off the entire bus ride, but it must have made Vash feel reassured.

New Virginia was a large, bustling city, nearly as big as the one which housed the Bernardelli Insurance Company. The sun was just setting, a gigantic orange ball on the horizon, when we checked into the Bay Hotel. There wasn't, of course, a bay near the hotel, but the proprietor insisted that his great-great-grandfather had owned a hotel by the same name back on Earth.

We trudged up three flights of stairs to our adjacent rooms and entered to get ready for dinner. 

"Man," I exclaimed as I entered Milly's and my room. "Vash must have emptied his wallet to get us this. I know he insisted that he was treating, but now I feel sort of embarrassed!" The rooms were large and sumptuous, with fine artwork on the walls and a marble bathtub.

"Aww, Meryl! You're way too proud!" Milly was delighted by the room's luxuriance. "Big big sister always said that too much pride never got anyone anywhere! Just relax and enjoy it!"

I smiled at Milly's carefree attitude, but inside I wondered just how much money Vash was wasting on us. He never seemed to run out of money, but he gave no indication of just how much he had. If this hotel and the expensive dinner were any indication, he had plenty to spare!

I freshened up, and put on my makeup carefully, wondering just how long it had been since I'd paid this much attention to my appearance. Surely not since I'd been assigned to Vash over two years ago…god, has it really been that long? It seems like yesterday when—

--Snap out of it Meryl! There's no way I'm getting into all this reminiscing crap again!

"Meryl! We promised Vash we'd be ready by now!" Milly shouted from the hallway.

"Coming!" I called back, snatching my purse and hurrying out the door.

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I could practically feel my jaw dropping a few feet as Meryl appeared in the doorway. Maybe it was because I'd never seen her dressed up this much before, or maybe it was that way that tight black dress showed off her petite yet curvaceous figure, but she seemed infinitely different that I had ever thought of her before.

Maybe it was because I had never really thought of her as anything but "Meryl the Insurance Girl", that now the distinct thought passed through my head that she looked like a _woman _ right now.

"Well, Vash, are you going to stare all day or are we going to get going?" Meryl asked, her voice laced with amusement. Milly giggled and I blushed furiously, snapping my mouth shut. I suddenly felt sort of defenseless in my slightly baggy tuxedo against two girls in constraining dresses teetering around in three-inch heels. It was ridiculous, but it was true.

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End chappy #1!! Hope you people enjoyed it! (I'm sorry if it was sort of short!) Please review (flames are fun if you want to get flamed back! ^_-)!


	2. By the Light of The Black Cat

Disclaimer: [See previous disclaimer]

Author's Notes:

Well, I'm surprised and pleased at the amount of feedback at my dinky little first chapter! Seven reviews, a new personal best! (Btw, if anyone cares I have two other stories but they were moved to FictionPress.net in case you wanted to read them).

I'm hoping this chapter will be longer, but I wouldn't know since I haven't written it yet.

Lots of lurve and thank-you's to:

Havoc, AmeobaFive, Molly-chan the Anime/Game Fan, Sith, Leena and VampireHunter for the reviews! (April, you don't count!)

And now, on with the story!

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Luckily, the walk from the Bay Hotel to the restaurant wasn't a long one, or else I would've ditched those damn heels within the first half hour.

The place itself had a rather gaudy exterior, as if it were torn somewhere between a flashy nightclub and a sleek, sophisticated restaurant. A bright lit sign hovered over the doorway, stylishly tilted to one sign, reading "The Black Cat" in green cursive lettering and displaying a picture of a large-eyed feline that struck some chord deep in my memory that I couldn't put my finger on. Before the polished glass-paned doors stood a hostess behind a tall, narrow desk, writing in a book of reservations. She looked up as they approached, revealing a heavily made-up blue-eyed face that slapped a big, goofy smile onto Vash's.

"Do you have a reservation?" She inquired pleasantly.

"Why yes, ma'am, we do!" Vash beamed and I elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"Name?"

"Saverem." Vash stated a bit more soberly, eyeing me nervously. I gave him my sternest possible glare though all the while I was rolling in mirth on the inside at how apparently frightened he was at my wrath.

"You're just on time! Please follow me." The hostess beamed at us and led the way into the dim recesses of the restaurant.

"She's way too cheerful." I muttered under my breath.

"You need to lighten up, that's all Sempai," Milly replied.

"I agree! Meryl's way too edgy!" 

"Say another word, broomstick brains, and I'll give you a mouthful of my shoe!"

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I felt my lips twitch into a half-smothered smile as Meryl stomped her foot threateningly and glared at me. I'm not so oblivious that I didn't know when I what I said would piss her off. I actually enjoyed watching her gray eyes light up in fiery anger, her face take on a flush of color. I know this sounds a bit sadistic, but I never was serious when I teased her, I just enjoyed getting her all worked up…it was so easy, anyhow.

We arrived at our table, deep within the dim recesses of the restaurant, only a short distance away from the dance floor. I pulled both Milly's and Meryl's out in what I considered a chivalrous act. For Meryl to make amends for the teasing, and for Milly because I didn't want to offend her by pulling out her Sempai's chair but not her own, though I doubted the girl would take offense.

Meryl's scornful, pouty expression softened at this and she smiled slightly at me in a way that for some reason made something in me twist in a way that was not wholly unpleasant.

After they had settled, I took a seat in the empty chair at the small circular table, eagerly picking up the menu and then immediately recoiling in surprise.

"What _is_ this?"

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I smiled at Vash's expression of shock as he stared blankly at the menu. "The names are in French," I said smugly, reveling in knowledge I'd obtained from taking 3 years of French in high school. "You probably can't understand it."

"Well I know what it says," Vash looked up at me and smiled wryly. "It's just that they have something 'with _au jus_'. It doesn't seem that they know French all that well."

I felt my eyebrows rise and Milly looked shocked. "You know French? How?"

"Come on, insurance girls." He let out a little laugh. "I _have_ lived for 133 years. I did do _some _productive things in that time."

Despite my lingering resentfulness at his previous teasing, I felt the muscles in my cheeks pull my lips in a real smile. It was so damn _hard _to stay mad at Vash for any period of time, especially when he turned on his charm.

We ordered dinner, and I realized as we ate that I was no longer repulsed at the speed with which Vash ate. Here he was, shoveling fine cuisine into his mouth and suddenly, all I felt was happiness. Vash had survived his ordeals with the Gung-Ho guns and his brother and he was here, with me, being Vash. All of the stress that had been pent up inside of me for months slid away, leaving me feeling relaxed and utterly satisfied.

"Wow, Meryl, you sure look happy." Milly commented.

"Yeah, for some reason I feel really happy, too." I replied. Vash continued to pack away his meal.

Milly leaned in towards me conspiratorially. "So, Meryl, are you gonna tell Mr. Vash about how you feel today?" She whispered behind her hand.

Across the table, Vash nearly choked on a piece of chicken and thumped his chest loudly as he gasped for air.

I looked at him with alarm, wondering if he had heard what Milly had said but if he had, he gave no indication of it for as soon as he recovered, he resumed the mass consumption of his food.

"I think I might." I whispered back into Milly's ear.

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That time I really almost _did _choke, though through an act of extreme willpower, I managed to conceal it from the Insurance Girls. Possibilities raced through my mind in an agonizing fashion. What had Milly meant by Meryl "Telling me how she felt"? The most obvious possibility forced its way to the top of my thoughts, but I withdrew from it in shock.

I glanced at Meryl out of the corner of my eye and that possibility strengthened at the sight of a slight blush and smile on her face. I almost wished that I didn't have such acute hearing. All of my thoughts and emotions felt all twisted up inside.

It couldn't be that Meryl…felt something for me…could it?

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Okay, people re-vi-ew!


	3. Dancing with the Devil

Disclaimer: [See all other disclaimers in the universe.]

Author's Notes: Well, it seems Something Right is on its feet and on a roll now. I'm actually getting a lot of reviews, woohoo for me!

Bundles of thankies (yeah, they're like hankies, but different) to:

"A Trigun Fan", EmpressGalaxia, Dark Phoenix, Ice-Angel, Trigger Millions, Jasminegurl, Alucard, Molly-chan the Anime/Game Fan, Midori, AmoebaFive, Angel's Wing, Meggie, Ladybugg, and Moon Sunflower 89!

Keep up those reviews!

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Milly excused herself to go to the bathroom soon after we had had our little conversation.

An awkward silence pervaded the air as Vash finished his meal and didn't resume his normal pointless chattering (A/N *Laughs her ass off*). I cleared my throat lightly and wondered if maybe he _had _heard what we had said. He was gazing off distantly at a place slightly over my head, propping his head up with his folded hands, his elbows resting on the table.

"Something up, Vash?" I asked him. His face didn't change, as if he hadn't heard my question at all. "Earth to Vash…" I said lightly but pointedly.

"Wha…?" He jumped back to reality and stared at me as if I had just ridden into the restaurant on a unicycle, juggling bowling pins and playing "Hail to the Chief" on the kazoo. "Did you say something?"

"Oh, God, just don't bother," I sighed and rested my chin in my hand. "This has developed into a real eventful evening…"

He looked at me with a sort of concerned nervousness. "You mean you don't like it? Is something wrong?"

I laughed slightly and smiled at him, feeling a little giddy over the amount of importance he seemed to place on making me happy. Staring into his aqua eyes for this long was making me feel like I was drowning…I wasn't completely sure that any oxygen was reaching my brain at all. At that moment, I truly felt like tackling him, kissing him senseless, and professing my undying love, but the words that came out of my mouth were:

"Uh…no, Vash. I think that other than watching you stuff your face for half an hour, the evening was really nice." _Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! _I mentally smacked myself.

"Oh," He looked sort of crestfallen for a few moments, and I thought for a moment that he had just interpreted my scathing comment as teasing, but when he looked up I saw true hurt in his eyes. "I am really that repulsive, Meryl?"

"No, Vash, you're not repulsive at all." I pulled my chair around to the other side of the table, next to him, causing a racket that drew the angry glares of people all around us. For once, I disregarded what others thought of me, eager to make amends for the idiotic things that had spouted out of my mouth. But once I got there, and was sitting directly next to him, staring into his slightly tearful eyes again, I hadn't the slightest idea what to say.

I looked down to where my hands sat on my lap, slowly entwining themselves nervously into the fabric of my dress. "I didn't mean to…I mean that what I meant was…well, when I…" I felt like a stammering idiot. I ran my tongue over my dry lips.

I must've jumped about a foot when I felt Vash's hand come to rest on my shoulder. I looked up and saw him smiling at me.

"Meryl, will you dance with me?"

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I really don't know exactly _why _I asked her to dance, but it really did seem like the right thing to do at the time.

She sat there in her chair, looking about ready to rip her dress to shreds, stammering and searching for her usual eloquence, and looking about as beautiful as anything I'd ever seen before, and I wanted to dance with her.

Now this may seem kind of shallow, but from the top, Meryl looked a hell of a lot like I remembered Rem to look. I've had fantasies all of my adult life about what it would've been like if I'd know Rem as an adult. If we'd been more than just teacher and admiring pupil. One of the things I'd always imagined us doing was ballroom dancing. It's true. I suppose it's just another romantic notion of mine, but I had a sudden urge to dance with Meryl just like I'd danced with Rem in my dreams.

She looked so shocked when she looked up at me that I was tempted to laugh aloud, but I knew that would pretty much lose me my chance at dancing with her, and earn me a big hand-shaped mark on my cheek.

"Er, uh…sure," She stuttered, accepting my out held hand and standing up. She made it about two feet, before her long black dress got caught up in her high spike heels and she tripped. I lunged forward and caught her easily, but then found myself in the awkward position of having one arm wrapped around her waist and my entire front side pressed flush up against her back. In that split second, I was entirely aware of every curve on her entire body, until we both abruptly jumped a few feet away from each other in embarrassment.

We both apologized to each other immediately, though I really had no idea what I was apologizing for, and I didn't think Meryl did either.

There was another uncomfortable silence for a few moments, until we both glanced at each other and cracked up.

After we both recovered from our fits of laughter (which had drawn the glares of many of the restaurant's other patrons) I took her hand again and we both walked onto the dance floor.

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"I didn't realize you could dance," I commented to Vash as he swept me along on the dance floor, moving steadily to the slow beat of the music.

"I bet there's a lot of stuff you don't know about me," He smiled slightly, twirling me gracefully and then pulling me back to him.

I laughed slightly and rested my head on his shoulder, inhaling the smell of the cologne Milly had bought for him. God, I loved him. The feel of his arms surrounding me, his unshakeable yet gentle strength. I even loved it when he teased me; though I would be loathe to admit it.

"You know Vash," I said slowly. "Milly and I were both really scared when you left…I mean, after the Fifth Moon incident. We thought we would never see you again. We thought you were dead."

I felt Vash tense, but I continued.

"I waited for two years for you to give us a sign that you were still alive…a letter…a postcard. It wouldn't have taken much."

"I didn't think you wanted to see me again," He said softly. "I thought it would be better if I just…disappeared."

"We _cared_ about you, Vash," I said softly, my voice quickly losing volume. "_I _cared about you."

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I stopped dancing.

"Meryl, I never would want to hurt you, ever."

"You did a damn good job of it."

I didn't really know what to say. My chest felt tight and I was finding it hard to breathe properly.

"Vash, I have to tell you something."

I stopped breathing altogether.

"Vash, I—"

Before I knew what was happening, my world flipped upside-down. Something exploded, and Meryl was thrown away from me. I heard screams, and a booming, crashing noise. Debris was flung through the air and in horror, I smelled human flesh burning. With a shove born of shock and fury, I through the debris piled on me aside and jumped up, searching for the cause of the explosion. I was quickly rewarded.

Silhouetted by the flames, a figure stood, laughing malevolently.

"Having a good time, brother?" Knives asked, smiling at me sadistically and hoisting an unconscious Meryl up by the hair. "Or was I interrupting something?"

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Lurve it? Loathe it? Review!


	4. Living the Lie

Howdy-doody, people! Here's the next chapter…I hope it's okay. It was really hard for me to write the interactions between Knives and Vash because, well, Knives' character (except for the fact that he is a homicidal maniac) isn't really all that well developed in the series, so I had to take a few creative turns when I was writing his dialogue. (Mwahahaha!) Sorry if it's a little disjointed, but people kept on IMing me while I was trying to write it. ^_^'

Extra bundles and lurve to:

Angel's Wing, Molly-chan the Anime/game fan, Cabbitangel8787, Indie, KaikaNozomi, Krnkaesaeki, Cherry Mecha, AmoebaFive, LadyBlackCat9000, Ladybugg, Vampkestrel, Midnight Star, Dark Phoenix, Ice-angel, and Alucard

(The number's getting bigger every time! Please keep up the reviews!)

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Last episode…

_ Silhouetted by the flames, a figure stood, laughing malevolently._

_ "Having a good time, brother?" Knives asked, smiling at me sadistically and hoisting an unconscious Meryl up by the hair. "Or was I interrupting something?"_

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I felt my mouth opening and closing as my overloaded brain struggled to think of what to do or say.

"Knives!" I hissed. It was all I could manage.

He laughed again and narrowed his ice-blue eyes at me. He was still wearing what he had been wearing when we'd left, plain cotton pants and bandages wrapped around his torso, with one of my shirts thrown on.

"Did you think that your pathetic, biological botanical inhibitor* would stop me?" He raised his arm and displayed a rough, bloody gash in his arm where he had obviously ripped out the device I had painstakingly constructed and implanted the night before.

"Why, Knives? Why do you continue this…this destruction? Why couldn't you just stop and live among humans like I do?"

"Because _I like it_, that's why. I would rather have had you kill me than force me to live among this…filth," He tossed Meryl aside casually, and wiped his hand on his pants.

I made a little wordless noise of fury as Meryl's limp body collided with the wall and slid down to the floor.

Knives looked up at me and quirked an eyebrow. "So, you're even more disgusting than I'd thought…you actually have…feelings for this filthy spider."

I was shocked. "No I don't! Meryl and I are just friends…" 

Knives didn't say anything; he just looked at me critically for a moment. 

"Why didn't you kill me, Vash?"

It was this question that startled and disturbed me more than anything else he'd said. It sounded sincere and almost…sad.

"Well…you're my brother. And I believe what Rem told us…that every life has infinite possibility, that everyone deserves the chance to change. I would be a hypocrite if I killed you. I would be as bad as you are."

He looked at me suspiciously. "You killed Legato. Have you forgotten that?"

I looked away, at anywhere but his unfeeling eyes. "Yes I did," I attempted to prevent my voice from catching to little avail. "I won't try to make excuses for my actions, but that is all in the past now." I straightened and turned to look back at him. "What do you want from me Knives? I won't let you destroy the humans, and I won't allow you to hurt my friends. I have vowed to honor Rem's memory."

"I want you to kill me!" He screamed.

I recoiled in shock. "You…you know I can't do that, Knives."

"I can't stand living. Every day I feel less of me inside of me!" I watched in shock and a little bit of morbid fascination as he went from screaming in fury to what almost looked like he was on the verge of tears. He glared at me, as if furious at me that he had this emotional outbreak.

Despite his obvious resentment, I hadn't the slightest idea what he meant. "Uh…Knives what do you mean?"

He ran up to me in a blur of speed and shook me furiously by the lapels of my tuxedo.

"You're still a stupid naïve child, Vash!" He snarled. "All the dreams I have, you steal from me! Exterminating humankind was my life dream! My mission!"

But his anger slipped away quickly and he let his long, slender hands relax and slide limply down to his sides. "When I had that mission, I was complete. You were the only thing that stood in my way. We were brothers, Vash!" He hissed. "We were meant to live in Eden together! But you were weak. You betrayed my trust and left me wounded. When we met each other in that grove, I was determined. One of us would die, that's what I vowed. And here we are. You were the victor yet I still live. You should have killed me! I died that afternoon. Everything inside of me died. _So why am I still here?_"

The intensity in his eyes frightened me, but inside of me, I saw the truth. "Knives, you have been given a second chance. A way to redeem yourself. This is what I'd hoped for when I saved you."

"_WHAT YOU'D HOPED FOR!!"_ Something in what I'd said must have broken something in him, for when he next raised his eyes to mine, the sanity I'd seen in them previously had completely vanished.

With a feral snarl, he flung a wall of pure energy at me. Stunned, I attempted to raise a shield, but my relative inexperience with using my inherent plant energy in battle let me down. His blast tore through my half-assed defenses and slammed me backwards into a wall. When I opened my eyes, he was standing over me, his arms hanging limply at his sides and his eyes glowing pale blue with insane anger.

I felt him forming another blast, and I lashed out at him on his own terms, creating a blast that shoved him back several paces and knocking him onto his back, stunned. I leapt over to him and pinned him down, concentrating carefully as he struggled wildly against me.

With one last burst of my quickly dwindling strength, I slammed all my mental energy into his brain, knocking him unconscious.

Feeling the last of my strength slip away, I fell back onto the debris-covered floor.

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I felt myself slowly rising back to consciousness to the sounds of a fight. I opened my eyes and waited for the darkness to clear from them as I focused on the scene before me.

Vash was holding Knives to the floor, his tuxedo in shreds around his torso. Vash's eyes were concentrated on a place just above his brother's head. After several moments of concentration, Vash's eyes bulged and I felt the strangest sensation…almost like my brain was itching. Knives fell limply to the floor, and after a moment, Vash did the same. 

"Vash!" His name escaped from my lips unconsciously and I rushed over to him, ignoring the moans of shocked and injured people around me, cursing my dress and the heels I was wearing. I practically fell at his side and lifted him up to check for vital signs. He was just holding onto consciousness and he gazed up at me with half-closed eyes.

"Meryl…thank God you're alright," he murmured. "I just wanted to tell you that…that…" And with that his eyes slipped shut and he went limp.

"Oh my God, Vash," I whispered.

And with that there was the sound of a door opening and Milly stepped out of the bathroom, looking around with wide blue eyes.

"Gosh, Meryl, what happened?"

*I was trying to figure out what Vash would've devised to keep Knives from escaping in the shower one day, and came up with this. Supposedly it targets the plant energy inside of him and uses special electrical impulses to stop his brain waves from reaching his body…except for involuntary stuff (i.e. breathing and heart beating). For him to escape from with would obviously require a great amount of willpower, and he had to rip it from his own arm, something difficult because of his low tolerance for pain. Vash constructed it out of a paper clip, a 9-volt battery, and some duct tape. ^_^

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	5. Here Comes the Sun

** Author's Notes:**

Well, faithful readers, here we are at chapter, uh, five and yet again I really have nothing substantial to put in my little pre-chapter notes. I'm sorry if this chapter is a little slow. It marks the end of the exposition (Readers: Holy crap! The first four chapters were only exposition??) and the beginning of the *real* plot of the story. 

I had only originally intended this to be a pretty short, fluffy fic with minimal angst and drama and so on, but I changed my mind. Needless to say, the story description's gonna be changing soon as well, but that's pretty inconsequential.

This chapter has a re-occurring "waking up" motif that I used a lot because I'm really tired today. Yeah.

Tanku to:

Fezzojoey, Dark Phoenix, Alucard, Pierce, MichiSpiritChan, Sakiya, KaikaNozomi, Molly-chan the Anime/game fan, Misty Shadow, Ah-choo, Polka Dot, Midnight Star, Venus Smurf, Ladybugg, Saiyan Butterfly, Ana, Nian, and Angelmoon.

And to all you people who thought Vash and/or Knives was dead; Shame on you! Vash wouldn't kill his own brother and he "disapproves of suicide", remember??? ^_^

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It only took me about two minutes to realize that Milly and me dragging Vash and Knives through the city to the hotel room in fancy dresses and high heels wasn't exactly the smartest idea.

Firstly, let me tell you that despite his lanky appearance, Vash was _heavy_. Not to mention the fact that his heels were dragging on the ground. What with our relative size, me dragging him five blocks wasn't a very easy venture. Add to that the fact that everyone around us was staring at us, and that made the trip a very unpleasant one.

After what seemed like decades, we arrived at the hotel, and some employees in the lobby offered to help us carry them up to our rooms. As soon as I finished throwing a blanket over Vash's motionless body, and Milly did the same with Knives, we passed out on the couch from exhaustion.

I awoke to blinding and painful light streaming in through the windows, prying my sore eyelids open like some sort of heavenly crow bar. I groaned unintelligibly, attempting to get comfortable but then realizing that something was constricting my movement. I sat up, still half asleep, and was mildly surprised to find myself sprawled over the couch and more surprised to find myself wearing a slightly wrinkled black ball gown. 

At the realization of my surroundings, the memories of last night's events came rushing back to me like a tidal wave. I leapt to my feet as quickly as one can when half awake and wearing a sleep-twisted dress and attempted to make my way to Vash's room as fast as possible, on the way tripping/stubbing/whacking myself on every possible object. I stepped on both of my high-heeled sandals, in the process almost falling but catching myself on the coffee table which I then whacked my elbow on, stubbed my toe on one of the legs of the armchair, scraped my calf on the doorframe, and stumbled into Vash's room where I found him sleeping soundly.

I growled in an almost animalistic fashion and managed to plop safely down into an armchair, muttering a few choice words directed at the hotel managers, Vash, Knives, and God for the experience I had just had to endure.

"All in the name of love, I guess…" I said softly, feeling my anger melt away as I gazed at Vash's sleeping form. He looked so peaceful and calm while he slept. AS if there wasn't a care in the world…

I was jarred from my contemplative state as Milly walked through the door dividing our rooms, rubbing the sleep blearily from her large blue eyes. "Man, you look horrible, Sempai," She yawned. "How 'bout you go take a shower and get dressed and I'll watch over these two boys."

I felt a smile creep over my features at Milly's ever-generous attitude, and also the fact that she referred to Vash and Knives as "boys", as if we were babysitting two unruly brothers, which, now that I thought of it, was pretty much what we were doing. Sure, that was Vash and Knives for you; 133 going on 9.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Vash and Knives slept in an almost comatose manner for nearly 5 days, during which time the money for the hotel room came out of Vash's pocket which, or so I found, was extraordinarily deep.

I had taken to sitting next to Vash's bed through the night, sneaking over to his room after Milly went to bed and watching him as he slept. Yeah, I know it seems like a kind of creepy-stalker-person kind of thing to do, but I felt a sense of simple and complete happiness when I was sitting there beside him, watching the slow rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.

I made sure that I returned to my room before dawn every night because, for some reason, I didn't want Milly to know about my nightly trips. But one night, apparently I had stayed a little bit too long and I couldn't recognize the signs of my drowsiness until I fell asleep completely, my arms and head resting on the side of Vash's bed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Waking up after sleeping for an unnaturally long time is an experience that can be quite scarring to an inexperienced individual. Even I, who was of course very experienced with this kind of thing, was very disoriented when I woke up in the sunny hotel room late one morning, only to find Meryl asleep and half-sprawled across my bed. 

Her raven hair was mussed and she was wearing her normal night shirt, I noticed. I wondered vaguely how long I'd been sleeping as I slowly dredged up the events that had happened prior to when I'd last fallen asleep from my memory.

_We had been at the restaurant…and I had been dancing with Meryl…and she had almost said…_I paused there and did a double-take over my memory, feeling the blood creep up into my cheeks as I looked down at the woman sleeping on my bed.

_ And then…_I froze and sat bolt upright. Knives had been there I had had a fight with Knives and he'd said the strangest things. Where was Knives? Had he escaped again? I quickly found myself in a panic until I gave the room a more thorough scan and found my twin still slumbering on the couch.

I sunk back down against the pillows and found myself absently stroking Meryl's hair.

God, that's weird, I thought. But for some reason I didn't stop. I didn't bother to analyze my actions because I was still busy sorting out my scattered thoughts.

After several minutes, I felt Meryl's head shifting under my hand and lifted it away with shock, as if berating my hand for its rebellious actions.

Meryl's eyelids cracked open and her gray eyes gazed at me sleepily from behind them. 

"Ah, Vash. I see that you're finally awake." She woke herself up a little more completely and took in her surroundings, jumping with apparent shock at the realization of her location.

She propped herself up at a position where my traitorous eyes realized that they could see all the way down her nightshirt. With what I considered an extremely large amount of willpower, I wrenched them away and looked at anything but her. Oo…what nice drapes…that picture frame is pleasant…great lamp…very stylish nightstand…wow, great breasts. I mentally whacked myself and cursed every hormonally-oriented part of the endocrine system I could think of and wished for Meryl's privacy's sake that she would just stand up, go back to her room, and change into her normal, reasonably modest Insurance Girl uniform. All the while, of course, another part of me wished she would stay, and perhaps lean over even farther for my personal benefit.

I mentally slapped myself again, but this time, it seemed that the pubescent boy part of my psyche got the better part of the deal. Meryl stood up and then sat next to me on my bed, looking down at her feet in a way that prevented me from discerning her emotions.

"Vash…I need to tell you something."

"Yeah?" I tried my hardest to keep the waver out of my voice.

She buried her face in her hands and ran them slowly up and through her hair. "I'm sorry…this is just…really hard for me." She choked slightly as she spoke, as if stifling a sob.

"It's okay, Meryl, you can tell me whatever." I tried to sound reassuring even though I myself wasn't in the best mental or emotional condition and wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

She looked up at me, tears rimming her eyes, and for some reason, something inside me told me that this wasn't going to be a confession of undying love.

"Vash, we've been assigned to someone else. If we stay with you any longer we're going to lose our jobs."

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Dum dum dummmmm…don't miss the next action-packed installment!


	6. Drunk Again

Here's another short and hastily prepared chapter! I'm planning on introducing a buttload of new action-packed stuff that I was originally gonna put in this chapter but decided it was too long. So, yes. Uh…

Thanks to:

KaikaNozomi, Sforzando, Alucard, Ana, Radia, Molly-chan the Anime/game fan, Krnkaesaeki, Katrina Mama, TeaRoses, Threnody, Gloria Stone, and FallenStardust

WHERE'D MY REVIEWERS GO?? WHERE ARE THEY? *shifty eyes*

_ *Drunk Again _ Written and performed by Reel Big Fish*

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"What?" I asked, looking at Meryl quickly and smiling mildly. I don't think at that point the truth of the statement had actually registered in my brain.

Meryl wrapped her arms around herself and lowered her head further. "Yeah, I suppose this is good news for you. You're probably happy that we won't be there following you around and being nuisances any more."

I couldn't do anything but stare at the top of her head. All of my thoughts were clogged up in my brain like a traffic jam, and were seeping into my consciousness at an alarmingly sluggish rate.

"But…but…how are you assigned to another person? You've always been assigned to me." I realized immediately that that had been the wrong thing to say to the often very prideful Meryl. 

She looked up at me quickly, glaring daggers. "Sorry, Vash, but our entire lives aren't devoted to you. We do have other things."

She stood up quickly and stomped angrily into the next room. I swung myself out of bed, attempting to quickly regain my land-legs and followed after her. I found her in her room, throwing clothes violently into her suitcase.

"Meryl…you know I didn't mean it that way. It's just…how could you be leaving?"

"It's very simple, Vash," she said, closing her suitcase firmly. "Apparently, someone has finally read my reports and, Bernardelli has decided that 24/7 surveillance of the Humanoid Typhoon is no longer necessary. So, we've been assigned to someone else."

She swung the suitcase off the bed and swept past me, stopping at Milly's room. "Up and at 'em, Milly. Pack up and let's get going." 

A muffled "Just a minute, Meryl" came from the next room and Meryl reappeared in front of me.

"Vash, you're a big boy. I'm sure you got along fine before we came along." She gave me an empty smile.

"Not nearly as well as I did once you came along."

"Okay, Meryl, ready to go." Milly said cheerfully, stepping out of her room, lugging a big brown suitcase.

Meryl smiled at her sadly. "Let's get going then." I followed them to the doorway, where Milly enveloped me in a crushing bear-hug. 

"I'm gonna miss you Vash-sama." She said tearily. "Make sure to write, okay?"

Meryl extended one hand and I took it, my heart aching at the relative coldness of it compared to Milly's warm farewell.

"Well, Vash, maybe we'll meet again someday." I searched her eyes for something—some remorse or sadness or even that fiery spark of her anger, but I saw nothing. All of her emotions were concealed behind a mask of cool politeness.

"Goodbye, Mr. Stampede."

Like in slow motion, I saw the door close. I heard the silence. And I slumped to the floor and put my head in my hands and cried.

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I felt my heart slowly break as I walked away. Every step I took farther away from Vash was like another stab to the chest. I don't give a damn if that's cliché. In that moment I knew what all those sappy love songs were talking about.

In my mind, I knew that staying with Vash wasn't good for me. I was becoming obsessed. I had reached a point where I was hanging on his every word, and I knew that he could never love a woman like me.

Yeah, I knew I would probably pine for him for a few weeks, but I would get over him. I knew I would. I had to.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

I stumbled into the nearest bar, prepared to drink until I forgot all about the insurance girls. Namely Meryl. I didn't know why I felt so strongly about this. Maybe because she had nursed me back to life after my encounter with Legato. Maybe because she had never forsaken me no matter what shit had happened in my past. Maybe because had screamed at me and hit me and griped about me and put up with all my escapades and still given me a place to come back to with my psychotic, mass-murdering brother.

I plopped down on a bar stool and put my forehead in one hand.

"What seems to be troubling you?" The bartender asked sympathetically.

"Women." I mumbled.

"Ah, isn't it always?" He chuckled and began pouring into a glass. "It looks to me like you need to forget something. Here, have one of these." He put the glass down on the bar before me and I took a swig.

"This tastes like crap." I muttered and laughed hollowly. "I love it."

  
  
_If I had a dollar bill for every time I've been wrong  
I'd be a self-made millionaire and you'd still be gone  
So hand me down my best dress shoes and my best dress shirt  
Cause I'm going out in style to cover the hurt  
And all I wanna do all day is spend it in bed  
But that's bad for the body and even worse for my head  
So I'll try and find a place where no one will ask me a thing  
It'll help to forget and help me to sing  
  
Cause now I'm drunk again  
The means to my end  
And I'm scared of myself  
Cause now it's the same the faces and names  
And I'm scared of myself again  
  
Have you ever wanted to wake up from your dreaming  
Scared you so bad you couldn't control your heart or your breathing  
Well walk out the door with me on the floor  
You don't care how I'm feeling  
I guess a weak and tired and frightened man is no longer appealing  
  
Some people have a gift of reaching right into your soul  
and finding the whole and making it bigger  
Baby sometimes I think I catch ya cracking cynical smiles  
and in a short while you'll be my  
heart's grave digger  
Well there's not much I can do  
Cause I'm at the mercy of you  
So baby I guess we're through  
  
Cause now I'm drunk again  
The means to my end  
And I'm scared of myself  
Cause now it's the same the faces and names  
And I'm scared of myself again  
Cause now it's all the same the faces and the names  
So go walk out the door you don't believe me no more  
And I'm scared of myself again  
  
If I had a dollar bill for every time I been wrong  
I'd be a self made millionaire and I wouldn't be singing_

--------------------------------

Well, that was kinda depressing. And short. So…review!


	7. Damned Insurance Company

Okay, here we are on the big chapter 7. The reviews have been flowing in, so thanks for that. I have reached a place in the story where there are a lot of possibilities on where I can take this. I really only have a very rough plan so far and your reviews really help me get my storyline priorities straight (anything for the readers, right?).

This chapter hopefully will be a bit more substantial than the last one…remember I said I had originally grouped those events with this chapter? Well I thought that ending the chapter with the "Vash depressed in the bar-scene" would be cool, and I really wanted to use the song "Drunk Again" by Reel Big Fish (Which, incidentally, Polka dot, _was_ credited in the Author's Notes).

So, the point of that whole rambling paragraph was that I hope you enjoy this chapter and I hope you guys won't all get too depressed. ^_^'

Tankies to:

AmoebaFive, KaikaNozomi, Vampkestrel, FallenStardust, Molly-chan the Anime/game fan, SailorPenguinz, Sforzando, Alucard, FungiferousFlora, TeaRoses, Katrina Mama, Polka dot, PuNkRoCkBuNnY182, The Mad Orange, Saiyan Butterfly, and Ladybugg.

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Wosharu Angelsbane. The Black Devil.

That was the name of our next assignment. The bounty on his head wasn't nearly as high as Vash's was. In fact, it was only $$ 200,000,000. Chump change compared to Vash's. 

Why was I comparing everything to Vash? I don't know. Why couldn't I think about anything but him during the long ride across the desert? I also don't know. How come all I could see when I closed my eyes was how shocked and hurt he had looked when we'd left? Why was the only thing I could envision the way his uniquely-colored eyes bored through me? Why the hell did I miss him so much?

The feeling of my heart breaking with every step did not change even as we traveled further and further away, except for the fact that the feeling spread to the rest of my body. I ached all over.

Milly and I didn't talk much during our journey. We both just sat on our thomases, each in our own little worlds. I had the sneaking suspicion that she was using this time to finally finish mourning over Wolfwood.

We reached our destination, a small, nameless town around 300 iles away from July after 2 weeks of agonizing silence. In a way, I was relieved. Worrying about how to approach this wanted criminal gave me something to think about other than Vash.

In the end, Milly and I decided to simply enter the town bar and see if he was there. The place was so small that that seemed like the best place to look. Apparently, most of the town could fit in there at once comfortably.

I entered, my best bitch-with-a-purpose look plastered over my face and we walked over to the bar, sitting down next to a handsome, lanky, genial-looking man who had the heels of his boots resting on the bar.

"Hello, ladies," He tilted up the brim of his cowboy hat to look us over with startlingly bright blue eyes and gave us a winning smile. "What are two pretty things like you doing in a dump like this?"

"Business." I said shortly, ordering a class of water and eyeing the bar's other, less reputable-looking patrons.

"I'm Milly and this is Meryl and we're from the Bernardelli Insurance Company," Milly explained cheerfully. "We wonder if you've seen anyone by the name of Wosharu Angelsbane around here?"

The man tilted his head up contemplatively and concentrated for a moment before shaking his head.

"I don't know anyone of that name, but I really haven't been here for very long," he leaned towards them confidentially. "But if you ask me, that guy over there looks pretty suspicious." He pointed to a shadowed corner where a darkly-clad man sat, smoking the stub of an old cigar.

"Thank you, sir." I said politely and stood up, smoothing my dress nervously. "Well, let's do it, Milly." I was about to begin walking over when the man's voice stopped me.

"I'm not sure if you know what you're getting yourself into, ma'am." He said quietly, swinging his feet off the bar and standing up.

I looked at him quizzically. He was tall, not as tall as Vash, but probably just a few inches shy. His face was partially shadowed by his gray cowboy hat and he wore a black muscle shirt and blue jeans under a long black coat.

"What do you mean?"

"Follow me." He motioned for us to follow as he strolled casually out into the street, his hands tucked into the pockets of his pants. I gave Milly a look and she shrugged.

"We might as well follow him, Meryl. He seems like he knows something."

The man chuckled as we came out onto the porch, where he was leaning against the wall and lighting a cigarette. "You ladies are far too trusting for your line of work."

"How do you know what our line of work is?'

He gave me a sideways glance and smiled wryly. "Well, not many women looking as business-like as you come strolling into this two-bit town and start asking for a wanted criminal."

"I thought you said you hadn't heard of Wosharu the Phoenix, sir." Milly said confusedly.

"Well, I lied, didn't I?" I couldn't see his facial expression from the shadow his hat was casting over his face, but I had the feeling that he rolled his eyes. "Anyways, that wasn't my point. My point is that it would be better for you to go back to the Bernardelli Insurance Society and stay there. Request a job filing paperwork, for god's sake. It's not safe for women like you to go around chasing dangerous men."

I was more than a little startled that he had known we were from Bernardelli, but the things he said made me angry more than anything.

"What right do you have telling us what we can or cannot do?" I demanded.

"The right given to a man before he goes to face the black shadow of his own death in battle." He tilted his head up far enough for us to see it in detail. Lightly tanned skin over a smooth, youthful face. Dark, smooth hair brushing across his forehead to touch his expressive black eyebrows. And his eyes, deep blue and piercing, their color intensified by the pallor of his face.

And with that cryptic statement, tossed his cigarette to the ground, put his hands in his pockets and walked away down the street.

I stared after him quizzically. "Wait! Mr…uh…"

"You can call me Wosh," He waved one hand in the air philosophically but did not turn back to look at us.

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What a state I've gotten myself into now…I thought glumly, staring in a dazed, hung-over way at the tips of my boots, propped up at the end of my bed.

I hadn't left the hotel room except to make nightly trips to the bar since Meryl and Milly had left. That first night, my head had been filled with wild, drunken notions of running off after them and using my wonderful charm to make Meryl come back to me. I had constant little day dreams all the time about both of them bursting through the door and Meryl running into my arms and telling me how horrible it was living without me. I would hold her close and smooth back her ebony hair and assure her that everything would be wonderful. We would be together forever.

_ Forever…_I sighed and looked over at Knives. Still not awake. Damn him. Damn him to hell. It was so much easier if I could just blame all of this on him. If he wasn't here I _could_ go after them. I sure as hell wasn't going to carry him off to whatever god-forsaken place those girls had gone now. No, I wouldn't. 

I wouldn't.

Or would I?

I shook my head, which only served to worsen my pounding headache and slumped back onto the bed with a moan.

I had resigned myself to the fact that I was in love with Meryl several days ago. It made sense. Due to the fact that I really longed for her presence more than anything. Due to the fact that I was more concerned about what this new outlaw might do to her than anything.

After all, not all wanted criminals are as nice as I am, I smirked.

I stared at Knives again and willed him to wake up. Wake up. Wakeupwakeupwakeup. The sooner he woke up, the sooner I could figure out whatever the hell was wrong with _him_, and more importantly, the sooner I could set out to find Meryl.

I moaned unhappily and decided to sleep off my hangover so I could head over to the bar and get drunk again.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I woke up to the sound of a groan. I emitted an nearly identical groan, noticing that my hangover still wasn't gone and looked to over to Knives to realize that he had woken up.

I stumbled out of bed and over to him. 

"So, you're finally awake." I commented, scratching the stubble on my chin.

He ran a hand through his short blonde hair and looked up at me with a perplexed expression.

"Who are you again?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Woooo! What happened to Knives' memory? Could it be some strange side-effect of the mental bitch-slapping Vash gave him? Does this mean that Vash can safely lug him off to find the insurance girls? Tune in for the next episode! 


	8. Showdowns and Solutions

Yay! Something Right passed the 100 review mark after chapter 7! You're awesome, reviewers. I love reviews. Almost more than writing itself. ^_^

Anyways, there were quite a few typos in the last chapter and I'm going to take this opportunity to point them out and apologize for them:

I accidentally wrote Wosharu the Phoenix instead of Wosharu Angelsbane because the former was what I had originally named him. When I changed it, I missed that one.

I put that Meryl was shocked that Wosh knew they were from Bernardelli, even though Milly had told him that when they'd introduced themselves. (Thanks, Radia!) So either I'm losing my mind or Meryl is. Nobody knows.

And I think I put "them" once instead of "us".

So I'm sure there was other stuff but I can't remember it now. I'm sure some day I'll go back and edit it and it will be a much better-written story, but I've got too much school stuff to do right now for that. Maybe sometime over the summer.

Huttah to:

TeaRoses, Molly-chan the Anime/game fan, Blood-Lotus Demonwalker, Ladybugg, Radia, KaikaNozomi, Garden Panda, Sforzando, The Mad Orange, Alucard, SailorPenguinz, ZetaBee, FallenStardust, Saiyan Butterfly, AngelZash, Reyan.

(Damn, this is getting a hell of a lot of reviews for my first proper Trigun 'fic! *High-fives all reviewers*)

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I stared at Knives for a moment, my aching brain not quite processing the meaning behind what my brother had just said. It dawned on me slowly, and my eyes widened to a quite inhumanly large size.

"You mean, you don't know who I am?"

Knives looked at me and shook his head, obviously perplexed.

"Me. Your brother. Vash."

Something registered in him when I said my name but he still had an almost suspicious look on his face.

"I might know you, I might not." He sat up and rubbed his head. "God, I feel like somebody whacked me with a sledge hammer. Have any pain killers?"

I stared at him, barely aware that my mouth was hanging open in shock. My brother. Making normal conversation with me. About pain killers.

When I didn't respond, he got a little perturbed looking and talked a little louder. "Did you hear me? I said pain killers! Pain Killers, you idiot! Get a move on!"

Okay, that was a little bit more like Knives. I hastened back to my bag, where I had stowed some aspirin I had bought to take the edge off my hangovers. I glanced at him the mirror in front of me, and watched him look around curiously while he thought I wasn't looking. As soon as I turned back, he put back up his cool exterior and accepted the pills I handed him. I took two myself and sat down at the end of the couch.

"So…" he said casually. "You said you were my brother?"

"Yeah," I said cautiously. If Knives hadn't fully lost his memory, I didn't want to bring up any…less desirable memories.

"Then who am I?"

I took a deep breath. I had to think this over. I decided after a few moments to tell him a partial truth.

"Your name is Knives. We're twin brothers, and both plants. We came to this planet 132 years ago."

He nodded and looked off distantly, as if feeling some sort of recognition in his mind.

"You were in a lot of trouble, so I saved you a few months ago. We've been living together since then, mostly with two girls from the Bernardelli Insurance Society. They left here, though…" I trailed off.

"I can't remember anything you're telling me about but something in me tells me that you're not lying." He looked at me critically. "So…" He gestured casually to our surroundings. "Where exactly is 'here'?"

"A hotel room," I sighed. "In a town called New Virginia, if that makes any difference."

He looked at me carefully, and I looked back at him with a certain degree of fascination. It had been a long time since I'd seen a look on Knives' face that wasn't focused on harming others or being angry at me. He wasn't anything evil at the time, he was just…curious.

"These…'insurance girls', did you call them? Why did they leave? You seem pretty depressed about it."

"Well, I've known them for three years now. I have a sort of connection with them. I suppose I love one of them." I thought about Meryl, and mentally corrected that statement; I _knew _I loved one of them.

"Women…" Knives said hesitantly. "Do I…have relationships with any women?"

I smothered a smile. "Not that I know of."

He seemed to think about this carefully for a moment. "No, I didn't think I did." He ran a hand through his hair again. "I can't remember any distinct memories, just general impressions of truth." In a sudden burst of anger, he slammed a fist against the coffee table and growled.

This outburst startled me, and reminded me that the Knives I knew was somewhere inside of him still. After a few moments, he mastered his emotions again and looked up at me, forcing a smile. "So, do you have any food around here? I'm starving."

"Sure! You like doughnuts?"

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I watched as Wosh walked into the street, just noticing that he happened to be walking towards a group of disgruntled-looking men wielding large guns.

He stopped a few yarz away from them, his hat pulled down low over his eyes.

"Yer The Black Devil, right?" One of the men demanded roughly, squinting at him and jabbing the barrel of his gun in Wosh's direction.

"Some call me that."

Some of the men snickered, but their leader silenced them with a glare. "We're here ta collect yer bounty, so ya c'n come nice n' peaceful-like or we c'n take you by force. Which do ya choose?" From my position I could see beads of nervous sweat breaking out on the leader's forehead.

Wosh spread his long arms gracefully. "Do with me what you will, gentlemen."

The leader motioned, and two of his men advanced cautiously, their guns held in front of them nervously. Just as they came within an arm's reach of Wosh, I saw his blue eyes glint with an unnatural light. That was the only indicator that he was about to act. Within a split-second, the two men were on the ground and their partners were staring at their motionless bodies numbly.

Wosh stood there, looking almost as if he had never moved and I swear I could see his lips twist into a smile.

"Y-y-ya…" The leader stuttered in shock.

Wosh smirked and sunk into a battle stance, his hands held in front of him. "So, do you still wanna fight me? Consider your priorities carefully. Which is most important, your life or my bounty?"

Suddenly from behind a building to Wosh's side, one of the gang members ran out into the open and took a shot at the outlaw. Wosh turned in momentary shock, and as if in slow motion, I saw him bring one hand up, saw the wind whip up around him, and saw the bullet slow, then stop in mid-air. As time took on its normal pace again, the bullet fell to the street with a clatter.

I gasped in surprise. What _was _this guy?

It seemed that the bounty hunters thought the same thing, and after a moment's shocked hesitation, they turned tail and fled down the street. Wosh straightened, and smoothed out his jacket, his shoulders shaking slightly with a quiet chuckle. He turned back and walked over to us, taking off his hat to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

I heard Milly gasp beside me.

When I saw his face, I froze, my mind whirling with shock. The moment I had seen the entirety of his features, two things flashed through my head: Vash and Wolfwood.

Looking at this man, you'd think that he was the product of the two spliced together. Vash's facial shape, long nose, and full mouth, and Wolfwood's slightly slanted eyes, tan skin, and more gravitationally natural hair. 

But upon closer inspection, I could tell that all of this wasn't quite true. The bridge of his nose wasn't as high, his lips were thicker, his eyes more blue, his skin paler, and hair darker.

Despite this, though the resemblance was still striking.

He looked at us curiously. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

My mouth flapped open and closed a few times before I was able to think of a logical sentence. 

"No, uh, nothing. It's just, uh, I mean…"

Okay, semi-logical.

"I know," he sighed. "You want to know what and how the hell I just did what I did. I assure you that it's not really much of your business and that it would be better if you followed my earlier advice and went back to Bernardelli."

During this little speech, I regained my ability to speak and responded. "I'm sorry, sir, but we can't do that. Our job is criminal surveillance to prevent death and/or property damage."

He leaned in towards me, and I was painfully aware of the incredible beauty of his deep blue eyes which sucked me into them much like Vash's did. I felt my breathing nearly stop as his I felt is warm, steady breath on my face. My mind starting working overtime on reasons why if he was about to kiss me, I wouldn't particularly mind. Besides, Vash would never love me, why should I spend my whole life yearning for him?

But Wosh didn't kiss me, he just looked into my eyes with amusement, and said "I guess I won't mind if you follow me, but if you want to, you'll have to catch me first."

With that, he was gone.

Milly and I looked at each other in shock.

"What should we do?" She asked.

"Follow him, I guess."

-----------------------------------------------------------

The plan was perfect. Knives and I would go and find the insurance girls, mostly because Knives claimed he "had nothing better to do." All of my day dreams would become reality. I basked in my good fortune.

"So," Knives said, breaking the silence of my contemplative reverie. He shifted his bag over his shoulder. "Which way do we go?"

I snapped back to reality, staring blankly at the endless desert before me, stretching in complete emptiness to every horizon except for the city behind me. I felt a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"I don't know."

"Don't know?" Knives asked with disbelief. "How are we supposed to find them if you don't even know which way they went?"

I moaned in utter misery. I hadn't even thought of this! Before, it had always been the insurance girls following me, not the other way around. "We're just going to have to pick a direction I guess." I said pathetically.

Knives threw his hands up in the air. "Some brother I have! Do you have any brain in there at all?"

"Some," I said defensively.

"Alright, if you don't know which way to go, then I'll say that we go west." He stated. "It's as good a direction as any."

"I think we should go east," I disagreed. "I always enjoyed traveling east."

"West is better."

"East is."

"West!"

"East!"

"Okay, okay, how 'bout this. You go over there and spin around in circles. I'll cover my eyes and then tell you when to stop. Which ever way you're pointing will be the direction we go." Knives said diplomatically.

I agreed and waited until Knives covered his eyes and said "Go!" I spun for at least a minute, waiting for Knives to tell me to stop but decided that something was wrong if he hadn't done so by now and ceased.

I waited for a moment for my dizziness to subside and looked around for my brother. After a moment, I dizzily discerned his figure walking steadily towards the western horizon.

"Knives! You said we could pick this way!" I stumbled after him, grabbing my bag.

His only response was an amused chuckle.

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Hmm…that was long, yet nothing much happened. Oh well. ^_^; REVIEW!


	9. Progress in a Different Direction

Sorry for the long delay, people, but the end of the school year has been hectic. I swear I'll seriously buckle down and write during the summer! Long, meaningful chapters! Really! *Shifty eyes*

If you haven't looked at my profile, er, good for you, because…um…it's a sort of important spoiler kind of thing for this story. So if you have a relatively deductive mind and want to save the ending, don't read it! Even though I still have a few more plot twists up my sleeve…*looks at tank top* Er…arm-hole…whatever…

Thanks to:

Kayla, Agent Apples, Sforzando, AmoebaFive, KaikaNozomi, Tigerrelly, TeaRoses, Molly-chan the Anime/game fan, Garden Panda, Saiyan Butterfly, Alucard, FallenStardust, Mikara, and Legato's Girl.

HERE IT COMES, PEOPLE! PREPARE TO SEE MILLY ACTUALLY HAVE SOME LINES!!!

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That man was not easy to catch.

We scoured the town for hours on end before an old man sitting on a porch at the edge of town told us in a slow, gravelly voice that a young man had calmly strolled out into the desert about an hour and three quarters ago.

I smacked my forehead and walked around in a distressed little circle, pondering my next move. We had just found him and he had already slipped out of our hands. A little voice in the back of my head reminded me of how Vash had always evaded us like that when we had first met.

"Aren't we going to go after him, Meryl?" Milly asked hesitantly.

I had another fit of deja vou. That had been happening a lot lately.

I shook my head, torn between two undesirable options. According to Bernardelli policy, if a criminal like Wosharu ran, we had no obligation to follow him and were expected to return to the main office. Since he hadn't gained his bounty for extreme property damage, just murder, we were only supposed to supervise him if the conditions were safe and stable for ourselves. I could either go back to a world of boredom at the office, or I could follow a man who might very well kill me and risk losing my job.

I let out a long-suffering sigh. "He wasn't supposed to _leave _the town! DAMMIT!" I shouted, releasing some of the frustration that had been pent up in me from all of the events of the past two weeks. From Knives wrecking the restaurant to us having to leave Vash to this strange attraction towards this Wosharu fellow, I was definitely having a bad month. And two weeks ago I had been so carefree, in such a good mood! It wasn't fair, damn it. I looked around desperately at the little houses in this town with families inside. Children playing in the street. Mothers calling in the distance. Fathers returning home from work.

Why couldn't I have all of this? I thought desperately. What have I ever done to deserve such a depressing, abnormal, lonely life? I had reached such a low that I had only two short hours ago felt the urge to kiss a man I'd only known for 15 minutes! I was pathetic. I blinked a few times, fighting back the moisture rising in my eyes.

"Meryl? Are you okay?" Milly asked hesitantly, moving closer to me. She put one arm over my shoulders. "I know it hurts, Meryl. It hurts for you, but you can't dwell on it or else you'll never be able to recover. You can't stop loving, but you have to move on."

"I don't know how you do it, Milly." I said with a certain degree of awe. "I could never understand how you got over it so quickly after...well, you know." My cheeks burned. I was so insensitive. 

But it didn't seem like Milly noticed. She was looking off into the horizon, a distant look in her eyes. "I didn't get over it," she said softly. "I'm not sure I'll ever get over it. We didn't know each other for all that long and it wasn't much more than one night of happiness for me before…" she choked slightly. "…he left. But I loved him. Loved him more truly than I think I've ever loved anything or anyone in my entire life."

I remembered Milly's face when she had seen Wolfwood's body slumped before the altar in that small church. I never wanted to see that expression ever again in my entire life. I had never known that eyes could hold that much grief.

She turned to look at me, and I could see that she was struggling with tears just as much as I had been. "We still might see Vash, Meryl. I don't know if you were actually watching him when we left that hotel, but he looked just as devastated as you did when the chief first called us about leaving."

I couldn't come up with a retort to that, no matter how much I wanted to. All along I had been telling myself that if he had wanted us to stay, then he would've tried to stop us, but now that I thought about it I realized that he had been trying to do that in his own, fumbling manner.

_"Vash, you're a big boy. I'm sure you got along fine before we came along." _

_"Not nearly as well as I did once you came along."_

Now that I thought about it, what had that cryptic comment meant. Had it been his way of telling me that he wanted us to stay…that he wanted me to stay? At the time I had hardly been listening to what he had said because I had been concentrating so hard on concealing my own grief.

I shook my head, trying to clear it of all of these wayward thoughts and concentrated on the task at hand.

"We have to do our job, Milly. We can't follow him. It's not worth it." I turned to smile sadly at my partner. "It looks like our adventures are over. Let's head home."

Milly mirrored my smile and nodded. "Yeah, let's go home."

--------~-------------------~-------------------~--------

A shadowed figure watched as Meryl and Milly walked back to their Thomases and departed, smoking a cigarette contemplatively. 

"So, I guess I've pushed two more people away," Wosharu sighed. "Well, I gave them the opportunity. I'm sure they could've caught me if they wanted to…" He walked slowly off to the bar to have a drink or two. 

--------~-------------------~-------------------~--------

Traveling with Knives across the desert was more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I was used to traveling alone for the most part, so it was a pleasant surprise when I found that Knives enjoyed frequently engaging me in conversation, despite the fact that much of it ended up turning into good-natured arguments. Knives proved to be a master of sarcasm, and I left him with an enormous amount of things to make fun of me about.

The fact that I didn't know which way Meryl and Milly had gone was one of his favorite, and he brought it back at random times to rub in my face for the duration of the journey.

But underneath his cool, sometimes snide exterior, I could sense that he was desperate for some information about who he was. That was, of course, a subject that I still had to tread carefully around as I had no idea what he would do if he knew the entirety of his past character and actions.

Other than the fact that I didn't have to travel with only the conflicting voices in my head as companions, the trip wasn't all that pleasant. Firstly, I had no idea whether we were going in the right direction or not. For all I knew, we would have to completely circle the planet before we got to where Meryl and Milly were, and that wasn't a prospect I was looking forward to.

Eventually, to my and our food supply's relief, we arrived at a town. Small and dingy, maybe, but still a town. It really didn't consist of anything more than a main street lined with houses with a well in the center.

"There's no reason your insurance girls would want to stop in a place like this," Knives sniffed. "We should continue."

"Yeah, well my stomach thinks otherwise," I countered. "We'll just stop and get some food and water and then we'll keep going again, alright?"

"It's a waste of time. We have plenty of food."

"Well, last time I checked, you didn't have any important appointments scheduled, did you?"

Knives snorted and folded his arms moodily but didn't say anything else.

"Look, you can wait for me in there," I jabbed a thumb towards what appeared to be a bar. "I won't take that long."

Knives nodded shortly and I walked off to the store.

------------------------------------------(Knives' POV)----------

The bar was dark and dingy, and its occupants relatively disreputable-looking. I sat at the bar and made sure my coat fell back to openly reveal the hand gun Vash had given to me before we had left.

I ordered a drink and leaned on one elbow, zoning out the bar's other patrons. Vash was such a wuss. We could've lasted at least another three days with the supplies we had left, and then some. I pondered just why I was staying with him anyways. 

_You can live perfectly fine on your own! _ A small, sinister voice said in the back of my head. _You were alone before you lost your memory and you can be alone now, too!_

_But Vash is the only person you have! _ Another, different voice responded. _He's the only person who knows about your past. You can't just abandon your past, can you?_

I mentally shook myself. All this inner conflict did was succeed in making me more confused. I felt eyes on me and turned to the man next to me, who was casually sipping a drink and watching me openly.

"What do you want?" I asked roughly, eyeing him suspiciously. He reminded me of someone…

He gave me a half-smile. "You were talking to yourself. I think it's fun to listen to schizophrenic people."

"And I think it's fun to gouge idiots' eyeballs out," I snarled. "Mind your own business."

"Whatever," he shrugged. "Then I guess you wouldn't want to know about the two girls from the Bernardelli Insurance Society that passed through here two days ago."

My head snapped up. "How did you know we were looking for girls from the Bernardelli Insurance Society?" I asked suspiciously.

He smirked and took a swig from his glass. "I know lots of things. In fact, I bet you'd be surprised at how many things I know."

"Oh really," I narrowed my eyes at him. 

I didn't like this. I didn't like this at all.

I stood up abruptly and strode towards the door, turning back to look at the man before I exited. 

"You stay right there." I waved one finger at him threateningly and went off to find Vash.

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Oooooo! How does Wosh know all this stuff? Is Knives' old self slowly starting to reappear? Am I making this up as I go along? Yes I am! So help me out and review!


	10. Wosharu Angelsbane

Yay! Real chapter! *Audience sighs* Well, this just has one POV, Vash's, even though most of it is a first-person narrative by Wosh. Don't worry, I swear it's not _ too _boring! Besides, I think Wosh is a cool character…*dodges rotten vegetables*

Yeah…thank you to all the people that reviewed after my last-chapter-reviewe-thank-you and any of those that I forgot to thank before when…well, yeah. ^_^

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I followed Knives into the bar walking as fast as possible without running, looking around frantically as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. 

"The little shit must have left!" Knives growled.

"I didn't leave," said a calm, soft voice from directly to my left. I turned to look at him, my still-unadjusted eyes barely discerning his dark-clad figure from the shadows of the wall he was leaning against.

_ This man had seen Meryl! Here! _ My mind screamed at me.

"Yes I did," he said in a slightly amused voice. 

Wait, I knew I hadn't said that aloud. My mind automatically flickered back to the last man who had always known what I was thinking. A man who spoke softly as well…

He stepped out from the shadows, and I relaxed somewhat as I made sure that he wasn't Legato. There was no aura of evil radiating from him, no simple and perfect malevolence in his gaze. In fact, he was rather open and unassuming-looking. He smiled at me slightly and motioned to a near-by table. 

"Would you like to sit down?"

I nodded numbly, my angst slowly wearing off, and sat at the table, followed by himself and Knives, who still looked suspicious.

The man removed his hat and bit his lip in thought, analyzing us. The sweep of his penetrating deep blue gaze made me feel incredibly uncomfortable, so I decided to stare at the glasses lined up above the bar, looking back at him when he finally spoke. 

"You don't trust me. Neither of you do," he sounded a little exasperated. "What can I do to make you trust me?"

Knives narrowed his eyes at the man. "Tell us your story. All of it. And what it has to do with these insurance girls."

The man sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Familiar hair. "Then I'll tell it from the beginning. My name is Wosharu. My last name—my real last name—is inconsequential. Yes, I can see the look on your face, Vash the Stampede. I'm a wanted outlaw. But then, so are you, so why the shock and surprise? It doesn't really make a difference. I was born in a small, relatively unknown town, the son of the local prostitute. My father, of course, was pretty much unknown due to that. 

"I had a hard childhood. None of the men in town wanted to make it seem like there was even a possibility that they were my father, so all of them either ignored me or abused me. After all, their reputations would be crushed if it was known that they had spent a night or two with my mother, but nothing would happen to them if someone saw them beating up the town bastard." He said bitterly, absently smoothing the cloth of his hat, lost in his memories. 

"My mother was really my only family. She tried her best to be a good mother, but she never was very good at it. She said that se had had one son before me, but she realized that the only way she knew how to make a living was selling herself on the streets, so she gave him to foster parents. Part of me wished she had done the same with me, given me some semblance of honor. But the rest of me…well I loved her. Loved her failed attempts at mothering. Loved how she and I spent evenings trying to teach ourselves how to cook something decent. Staying up late and watching cheesy horror movies." He sighed. "Look what I've gotten myself into, now I'm telling you my life story. I'll move on if—"

"No, keep going," I said quickly, trying to conceal the emotion that had sprung up in tear form into my eyes. Knives gave me a perturbed look and elbowed me under the table. 

"No crying!" He hissed.

I gave him a scathing look, then turned back to Wosharu. "Please continue."

He smiled slightly. "Well, as I was saying my mother and I had a few years of relative happiness together before I started to display signs that I wasn't a regular child. One day, when I was being accosted by one of the men in town after he had gotten drunk, I snapped. He had shoved me into a trash bin, and then next thing I knew, my vision was being overtaken by red and the man slammed backwards into a brick wall. I lashed out at him over and over again but not physically. It was with my mind. By the time I snapped out of it, he was lying unconscious against the wall and blood was streaming out of his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. I saw him for the first time with rational eyes and I was horrified. I was only a little boy, not more than nine years old. So I ran home and never told a soul. Until you two, that is. 

"But after that, my strange powers kept on resurfacing in random ways. I could watch a person and in addition to hearing what they were saying, I would hear what they were thinking as well! At first I didn't realize what was happening. I would answer questions that no one had ever asked, only thought. People looked at me like I was a freak, and I suppose I was. 

"With my limited knowledge of what was happening to me, I built my own sort of fantasy world around me and withdrew into myself. I suppose if nothing had snapped me out of it, I would have eventually gone completely insane. At that point, not even my mother could reach me any more. And remember when I said she was never good at mothering? Well, this is where it comes in. She decided my condition was too much for her to handle, so she let me do whatever I wished. 

"One day, I wandered my way to the town Plant. It was late at night, so all of the workers were gone. With my psychic powers, I was able to open the locks on all of the doors, and I wandered to the very bulb itself. It was as if some force had been guiding me, because I never could've found my way through that metal labyrinth by myself. 

"I have no memory of what happened within that chamber, but all I know is that when I came out, I had returned to the real world. I saw myself within the grand scheme and I knew that I was different than other people. I also knew that I couldn't stay in that town any more. I couldn't stay where people knew what I could do. I couldn't stand their stares. So I returned to my house, packed up a few of my possessions, kissed my mother goodbye, and left. At that time I was fifteen.

"Over the course of my travels, I tested the extent of my powers and also racked up my current criminal record. I found that once people found out that I was different, once they realized that my capabilities were in any way extraordinary, the responded with violence. That's when I gained my nicknames. Angelsbane. The Black Devil. Just because of the way my powers tended to get out of hand when I was angry. And that happened a lot in the early days. 

"My power had grown as I had gotten older, and the same amount of anger that had been directed towards that drunk when I was a child was easily enough to kill five men when I was an adult. I always regretted it afterwards. Even though I hated all of the ignorant, mean fools who had angered me, I always thought to myself 'what if that was the man who was my father?'. The idea had obsessed me from my very early youth, probably because it had been both physically and mentally pounded into me for all of my childhood.

"The years passed, and the anger of youth has gradually faded away. I guess you could called me jaded now. I go from town to town, sitting around, drinking, and occasionally getting rid of those who come for my bounty via whatever means necessary. 

"Those insurance girls of yours intruded briefly upon my life in a flurry of light against the blackness in my mind, and I enjoyed it. They all had their own little stories inside their minds. Stories of excitement and adventure, of love and loss, so much different from the bland violence of most people around here." He motioned to the few other people in the bar. "Something moved in me when I met them. A something that I haven't felt in nearly twelve years. I wish that I could go after them, but I knew I was destined to tell you about them." His gaze shifted from its focus on a spot somewhere in the distance to us.

"But now that you're here," he said, his emotions quickly shifting to excited cheerfulness. "I can go with you two to find them!"

"No." Knives said flatly. "Your sob story was very touching and all but we don't need you to come along and slow us down."

"Oh, so you'd rather I didn't tell you in just what direction those girls went?"

"Oh, come on, Knives," I said, recovering from my emotion at Wosharu's life story. "It wouldn't hurt to let him just come along."

Knived growled and pulled me up from the chair. "Would you excuse us, please?" 

He yanked me off to the side. "Do you honestly want this psychic freak to follow us around for however the hell long it takes us to find these insurance girls?"

"I heard that!" Wosh called from the table.

"I don't see what your big problem is!" I said back. "He knows where they went, and I'm guessing that the next time we randomly pick a direction to travel, it might not be the right way!"

Knives let go of me with resignation. "Okay, you win. We'll let him along." He muttered.

"Good choice," said Wosh, grabbing his hat and walking over to us. "Follow me."


	11. Painting Perfection

Well, sorry for the big break between chapters. I was feeling less writer-ish and more web-designer-ish and AMV-maker-ish, so I had to get that out of my system for a while. I'm already working on the next chapter, so it may be up later today or tomorrow.

Thanks to all y'all people who reviewed.

(Getting lazier, now? Definitely)

!@#$%^&*!@#$%^&*!@#$%^&*!@#$%^&*!@#$%^&*!@#$%^&*!@#$%^&(not obscenities, just getting tired of dashes)

Traveling with Wosh was a world of difference compared to just traveling with Knives.

His cheerfulness was contagious and more than once I caught even Knives smiling at one of his often cheesy and ridiculous stories before quickly stifling the expression. Only rarely did I see the darker side that I had witnessed when he had told us his life story, though I had a feeling that it was constantly lurking below that happy mask that he showed us.

So many empty smiles.

The vibes of extreme deja vou I'd been getting when I was around him were becoming so frequent that I barely paid them any mind any more.

It only took me an hour or so after we'd left that tiny village to realize what direction we were going in.

"Hey, we're just heading to December, aren't we?" I asked, slightly indignant that he had acted as if the girls had wandered off in some obscure direction, instead of just heading toward the city where the Bernardelli office was located.

"Mm hm," he responded, busily fiddling with a braided piece of black leather he was attempting to remove from his hat.

"Oh," I responded.

"Then are you going to leave us alone and let us find them by ourselves?" Knives asked bitterly.

"No," he responded, glancing up to shoot a crooked grin at me.

Knives sighed. "I thought as much…"

--------------------------------------------------------------

It was good to be back home. 

And, if you thought of it in another way, it was bad.

Personally, I'd never really liked staying in the quiet, small, one-horse towns that Vash tended to travel between. I was much more suited to the life in the big city, and the familiar bustle made me feel comfortable and happy. I'd been born and raised here in December, where I had learned how to defend my self in the dog-eat-dog world of the big city. It was where I'd picked up the habit of carrying around derringers, and of being offensive in most situations. 

I suppose by nature I wasn't a particularly violent person, but being not only the shortest and smallest but also the most studious kid on the block had forced me to learn how to fight back when people picked on me.

But despite my fond memories of beating up large boys in my youth, I had to remind myself that Vash was not here. He was not, and probably would never be, here. I felt almost sick as I reminded myself of those torturous two years after Augusta. I wondered what it would be like to feel that lonely for the rest of my life. I couldn't imagine returning to the normal adult dating world after what I felt for Vash. I had never really gotten very involved with anyone seriously, most of my previous relationships only lasting for a few months at most.

Many guys went out with me only until they either realized that I was a hopeless workaholic or that they fell desperately in love with some other woman who they met at the gym or, in once instance, that they were married.

How I could I abandon the completely pure and helpless love I felt for Vash to return to that world of infidelity and sorrow? How could any man possibly match not only his physical appearance, but his compassion, his peacefulness, his hopeless, idealistic, sentimentalism?

I sighed and rested my head on the kitchen table, my fingers absently stroking the handle of my coffee cup. My apartment was quiet, too quiet for me. I had spent so many months living with Vash and Milly and, for a time, Wolfwood that I wasn't used to being all alone again.

It was far too quiet. We had arrived back in the city late on a Friday afternoon, and now it was Saturday. Another two days, well one and a half, until I could go back to work and forget about Vash, about everything. 

But until then, just the silence. Staring at the clock and willing the second hand to move faster. 

Milly had immediately gone to visit her family in a small town on the outskirts of the city, and though she offered to let me come along, the overwhelming cheerfulness of the whole Thomson family in one place would've only served to make me more depressed.

I pulled a piece of scrap paper over to me from an old report that had been sitting on the far side of the table since I'd left to find Vash the second time. I stared at it for a few moments before grabbing a pen and sketching a smiling face, topped by a spiky, broomstick-shaped hairdo. I paused for a moment, thoughtfully eyeing my work, and added an earring and a mole below the left eye.

I internally cursed myself for never taking any pictures of him. How was I supposed to dwindle away the years of my life as a sad old maid without a picture of him to obsess over?

I sighed and stared down at the drawing. It beamed back up at me. I'd never been bad in art class, but I wasn't exactly another Michelangelo. Sure, the sketch easily encompassed his cheerful smile and goofy appearance, but how could I ever capture the way his soul cried and mourned behind those eyes so badly that it hurt to watch him smile?

I shook my head and pulled another sheet of paper over to me. This picture was larger, his expression more melancholy, and drew his hair down in the way it had been when we had cared for him after he had faced Legato for effect. Still, I wasn't satisfied. His eyes! I couldn't capture the way his eyes looked!

I let out a growl and crumpled the piece of paper, throwing it at the wall. I would do this! Meryl Stryfe never failed.

By Sunday evening, I had advanced to oil paints and an easel and canvass. A whole corner of my living room was filled with failed attempts, and the portrayals of my favorite gunman had spanned from him simply staring back at the viewer to eating doughnuts to lying comatose in bed like those weeks following the Legato incident. In my mind's eye, I could envision every scar, every sleek muscle, and every stray lock of golden hair. 

Yet in every picture, there was a flaw. In most of them, I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was most definitely there, screaming at me. The was something missing from all of them, but for the life of me, I had no idea what it was.

I painted like a woman possessed, each obviously flawed portrait angering me so much that I started a new one. I painted throughout the night, until I collapsed from exhaustion.

The light woke me up, streaming through the window and forcing my eyes open, looking up blearily from where I had fallen asleep resting against the easel. I reached up and absently realized that I must have fallen asleep with my cheek pressed into wet paint, my fingers uselessly brushing against where it had crusted on the side of my face and hair.

_ Work…_said a voice in my head.

What? I wondered, still half asleep.

_ Work._

I have been working. I was painting all through last night.

_ Work._

I hadn't worked in ages. Being with Vash wasn't working, it was my own personal heaven.

_ Work._

I hadn't worked at Berna—

"Oh SHIT!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Vash! Up and at 'em! We're less than a day's walk from December!" Wosh's voice cut through my happily unconscious state.

"Mnnggmmmmfff," I grunted, my equivalent of informing the overly exuberant and morning-loving man that I had no intention of being either "up" or "at 'em" for another hour or so. I could tell that the sun wasn't up even if I hadn't learned about Wosh's early-morning tendencies early on or journey. My internal clock always woke me up soon after dawn, and a quick thought discerned that my internal clock had definitely _not _woken me up yet.

"Vaaaaaaaash!" he whined, utilizing a voice that reminded me scarily of the tone I often used when attempting to obtain doughnuts.

"Gmfm," I said, rolling over and away from him.

I thought for a moment that he'd given up and was going to let me return to sleep when I felt his presence not far from my ear and heard him breathe in a soft, deep voice. "Today's the day when you and Meryl can have your joyous reunion. Maybe she'll do something to thank you for braving this horribly long trip to be with her."

I suddenly felt all want or need for sleep slip away and my mind begin to buzz with possibilities. 

"Alright, Knives! Up and at 'em!" I said cheerfully, a scare few moments later.

-------------------------------------

Fun, fun, fun! Is this story which only a chapter ago had the possibility of an actual plot now degrading into what will eventually become pointless fluff?? Possibly!

Regretfully, but fluff-filled,

Your beloved author.


	12. Meryl Comes in Late

Okay, this wasn't as soon up as I wanted it to be, mostly because FF.net was down (damn them all!) for a while. Things are actually happening! Yay! Not exactly degrading into pointless fluff yet. I only said that last time because I didn't know how I was going to be able to work in some of the turning points with both Knives' and Wosh's characters. But I got it sorta planned out now, so don't worry! (Though for you others, don't worry either because I'm planning on stuffing in some fluff and/or angst as well! Yaaaaay!)

(3 hours pass)

AAAAHG!! FF.net is still down!! How am I supposed to find out which reviewers to thank, and more importantly, how can I post this chapter?? Gaaaah!

(another hour later)

WAAAH! Why can't they have a more reliable server?!

(30 min later)

*Is slowly but surely going insane* It's my birthday, dammit! Gimme my fan fics!!

(2 more hours later)

Oh! It's finally up again!! Yaaay!

Thanks to:

AmoebaFive, KaikaNozomi, Kurokumo, SailorPenguinz, ZetaBee, Cayenne Pepper Powder, PuNkRoCkBuNnY182, WW, Shahrezad1, BaZ, nameless, Menchi-Pie, Molly-chan the Anime/game fan, Sforzando, Alucard, ladybugg, V. Keller, Kayla, Saiyan Butterfly, Nisshouken, Gorman99, Joey, and FallenStardust. (accounted for both of the past two chapters there)

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I was hurriedly trying to repeat every expletive I'd ever heard in my life in my mind as I attempted to pull on my pantyhose, eat a piece of toast, and scrub the remnants of paint from my cheek at once.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I repeated, bouncing around the apartment on one foot, searching for my boots, as I continued to pull on the pantyhose. Who the hell had invented pantyhose? What kind of perverse freak would want to inflict this torture on innocent people like me? Probably was a guy. I snorted as I finished putting them on and slipped on my boots, then stood up and straightened my skirt.

Okay, now if I hurried I might not be *too* late…

I arrived at the office just at the same time as Milly did (ensuring my complete lateness), and she greeted me cheerfully as I hurried into the office. There was no particular reaction when Milly walked in except for a few good-natured chuckles, but as I entered, the entire room went silent.

Feeling a blush steal over my cheeks, I slowly made my way to my desk, highly aware of the shocked whispers following my passing.

"Meryl…late for work?"

"Surely this is the beginning of the apocalypse…"

"What's that brown smear on her cheek…?"

"I wonder if something emotionally scarring happened to her when she was with Vash the Stampede…"

I felt the blush burn brighter and brighter.

Eventually, people began to lose interest in chattering about my strange tardiness and returned to their normal work.

I stared at the forms sitting on my desk that I was supposed to be filling out blankly. Now that the manic task of getting to work nearly on time was done, my mind was wandering back to the paintings of Vash…the imperfections. That something about all of them that made them seem…well, wrong. Like they were abominations. Like they weren't worthy of being in existence if lacked that one thing. They didn't do him justice, none of them.

I saw his face in my mind's eye, but I couldn't figure out what was missing.

It was one detail, one emotion, one touch, one nuance. 

But I had no idea what it was.

I looked down and realized I had absently sketched a picture of Vash's face on the corner of the form, and I furthermore looked up and realized the Chief was standing directly behind me.

"This isn't art class, Ms. Stryfe," he said in a monotone, raising an eyebrow at me. "Come with me into my office."

I did so obediently, praying vehemently that he wasn't going to fire me.

But luckily, he dropped his usual "in the office" façade as soon as I shut the frosted glass door behind me. He motioned for me to sit down and I relaxed. I had known the Chief for a long time, and we had built up a kind of mutual respect, maybe even friendship, over the years I had worked for him.

He looked at me carefully in silence for a few moments, then decided to speak.

"Meryl, there's something wrong with you, I can tell," He stated. "You've worked in this office for five years, and in those five years I have never seen you miss one day of work, nor have I seen you come in even a minute late. And that's not the only thing that's worrying me," he interrupted as I tried to respond. "I read your reports. If I had only been your friend and not your superior, I never would've recalled you from the Vash the Stampede case. However," he continued as I attempted to speak again. "I have a duty to this company to put you in whatever position you're most effective, and it seemed that that was not in the company of the man in question."

He looked up at me sadly. "I hate to say this, Meryl, but if you want to stay with this company, then you'll have to get over it."

It was then that I broke down in tears.

The Chief sighed in a long-suffering manner. "I thought it might be that way. Meryl, it's my advice that you take some time off work. You're a good worker, the best in the office, but you need to get readjusted to settling down in once place and reestablish your life. I hired someone to fill in for you. I'm afraid I can't pay you like this is vacation time, because policy doesn't allow it, but I want you to know that there will always be an opening for you here.

"As a friend Meryl, I'll tell you that you need to find other people to talk to and be with. I know from experience that loneliness will eat away at you." He patted me on the shoulder and handed me a handkerchief, but I only cried harder. Now I had lost the two things I loved most—Vash and my job—within the space of two weeks.

_ What did I have left now?_

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"So that's really December, right? Right over there?" I felt like an excited child on Christmas Eve.

"Yeah, that's it. You've only been asking me about it for the past twenty minutes, now." Wosh sighed. Knives grumbled something unintelligible and scuffed the sand with his shoe. "Surely you've been to December before?"

"No, I stay away from big cities when I can. I've had some," I cast a sideways glance at Knives. "Bad experiences."

"Oh, well December's a great place," Wosh continued, as if he hadn't noticed my discomfort. "Great big buildings, loads of stores, paved streets. They have to use nearly four Plants just to support the city and the outlying areas. Can you believe that?"

I nodded absently, but my mind was trailing back to Meryl again. What would I say to her?

_ Hey, look! After you left I became a raving drunk and then Knives woke up but he'd lost his memory and then we went after you and found this guy who'd said he'd seen you so I followed him to December to find you. I love you and want you to have my children. _

I moaned softly. As if. Who even knew if she wanted to see me? What if she was mad at me for not trying to stop her? What if she had decided to become a lesbian? I moaned even louder.

"…and so apparently they had to rebuild it. Hey, are you okay?" Wosh finished whatever he'd been ranting about and turned to me, concerned. Knives had made it clear soon after we'd left that if he so much as glanced at our thoughts, he wouldn't wake up the next morning, so Wosh had been holding back his powers. He obviously hadn't heard my thought process.

"Yeah, fine, fine." I waved him away and trudged on, made more tired by my dark thoughts than any physical fatigue.

"You're not fine." Knives muttered under his breath so that only I could hear him. "I'm your brother, I can tell."

"I can't hide anything from you, can I?" I gave him a half-smile, which he mirrored in a slightly more cynical fashion.

"No you can't. You're preventing me from outright reading your thoughts but your emotions are as easy to read through your eyes as a children's book. He can see them too," Knives motioned to Wosh resentfully, raising his voice slightly. "But at least sometimes he knows when to shut up."

"I heard that, too!" Wosh called from his position a few yarz in front of us.

Hours later, as evening descended upon the group, we arrived in the city, me and Knives looking completely the part of country bumpkins among the stylish and suit-wearing populace rushing home from work. 

We self-consciously attempted to draw attention away from our dusty, simple, homespun clothing while Wosh made sure that his long, somehow pristine, black coat was straight, brushing invisible dust off his shoulder.

"Well you don't have to flaunt it," Knives muttered at the young outlaw, who smirked.

"It's hardly my fault you boys don't keep up with fashion!" He waved one hand dismissively, chortling slightly.

Knives muttered something under his breath that I couldn't quite catch, but I think I discerned the words "son of a—" and "ram a jackhammer up his—".

I smiled a little, strained as it was due to my current amount of stress. I used to be just like Wosh, but I would never wear a red coat again. Maybe I should look into a black one like his. It would probably look good on me…

"So," Wosh said, bringing my thoughts back on track. "Where do these Insurance girls of yours live?"

I stared at him blankly.

He looked back at me, except with a kind of bemused disbelief. "Come on, now! Don't tell me you don't even know where they live!"

I managed a weak smile, and this time I even heard Knives groan slightly.

Wosh shut his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose for a moment, then regained composure, though I couldn't help but notice a muscle in his jaw slowly clenching and unclenching. 

"Alright, we're going to a bar, I'm going to have a drink, and then we're going to find a phonebook and find them. Any questions?" He gave us a look that harbored no disagreements, one that even Knives couldn't oppose, then stalked off.

"He has a short fuse, doesn't he?" I laughed nervously, rubbing that back of my neck.

Knives deadpanned. "To deal with you without blowing it, you'd have to have a fuse longer than my—"

"Are coming or not?" Wosh called.

"Yeah, we're coming!" I sighed and dragged Knives along with me as I hurried to catch up.

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Oo…that was a little longer than normal (not that that's bad or anything). I really have this chapter planned as the second of a three-part section (which is basically the events leading up to and including "the reunion"), so expect #3 to be coming soon.


	13. Angst and Confrontations

Okay, I reverted to the "traditional" story format in this chappy to see if I like it more, as opposed to the generally accepted "fan fiction" style. Well, the plot is back on its feet, after a minor slip in the flow of the author's "plot chi".

So enjoy this one, peoples! I put lotsa hard work in…

Thanks to:

Tamashi no Yume, Sforzando, FallenStardust, KaikaNozomi, Ana, WW, Molly-chan the Anime/game fan, Shahrezad1, nameless, Rosebud, and PuNkRoCkBuNnY182

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Bars in the city of December were a lot different from the dingy, small-town saloons that I was used to.

Instead of shady-looking outlaws and bounty hunters smoking, cursing, and gambling, there was an assortment of business men who had apparently just gotten off work, and were sitting around, exchanging amicable banter about work and their home lives, while drinking small amounts of alcohol. All was relaxed and calm, almost friendly.

How different this is from the rest of the world, I though absently as I followed Wosh over to a small, secluded table near the back of the room.

"You two stay here, alright?" He wagged a finger at us as if he were talking to two disobedient dogs.

"Yes sir," Knives said mockingly.

Wosh's lips twitched is a hint of a smile. "I have to talk to some old friends. I'll be back in a while." With that, he turned and strode off to a back room somewhere.

After a few moments of silence, Knives turned to me.

"Vash, why haven't you told me about my past yet? You obviously know much more than the few scattered images I can scrounge up from my mind, but you've never said anything."

He stopped there, but I could see other questions unsaid that flashed in his eyes. Questions that I didn't want to answer right now. I also saw suspicion, I saw confusion, and I even saw some sadness.

"Knives…" I started. I really had no idea how to do this. I decided to be as truthful as possible. "I'm sorry, I truly am, that I can't tell you the entire story of your past right now. I don't even know the whole of it. But I just can't. I'm not sure what you would do if it came back to you. And I think that if you knew, you might do something that would go against everything I believe in. I will tell you, though. When the time is right."

Knives jumped up from his chair and slammed both hands onto the table with such force it almost collapsed, his eyes blazing in sudden violent anger. "When Vash? When will that time be? Once you've regained your beloved Insurance Girl and have ensured your happiness! What about me? Do you expect me to wait here in the agony of not knowing even who I am, following you around like a lost puppy waiting for a scrap of food from its master! Hoping against hope that maybe you'll give me some tiny bit of information! How long will it be, Vash?"

Some of the bar's other occupants sent him shocked glances and I swallowed slowly. "Knives, please sit down." I said softly, almost pleading.

"You're such a stupid, selfish fool, brother." This time, the absolute calm of his words alarmed me more than his previous rage. Each syllable cut me like a cold, sharp blade, just like his name. "It's always about you, isn't it?"

This time it was my turn to stand up in anger. Something he said had snapped something in me.

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about, Knives! Don't even _pretend_ to know how many times I've been forced to give up the things and people I love just to protect everyone else. And I'm fed up to here with it!" I gestured violently. "I'm sick and tired of living for everyone else, and for once I'm going to do something to make _me _happy! Got that? So you'd better fucking put up with it or else you can kiss your past goodbye!"

Knives looked more than a little taken aback, and I felt a cruel little twist of satisfaction in seeing the shocked look on his face.

"Alright," he said stiffly. "For now we'll find your Meryl. But as soon as you two get things sorted out, I want to get some answers."

We sat down in unison, me feeling at least partially that we had gotten past a topic that had been causing a good amount of tension between us for the past few weeks.

We fell into a silence that was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable, but it provided an opportunity for me to ponder Knives' reaction the events that had happened since he woke up.

It was clear to me that his loathing of humans wasn't a powerful enough factor in his subconscious that he constantly wanted to kill them. When the waitress brought us our drinks, he didn't glare at her in disgust as I imagined he would if he hadn't lost his memory. In fact, though his actions weren't exactly what I would refer to as sociable, he wasn't impolite or in the least bit disgusted by them. I realized that it must not have been in his inherent nature to dislike humans, just like it wasn't in mine.

_ But it might only be a matter of time before he decides to hate them again,_ my mind reminded me grimly. There was another thing I hadn't considered. What if his memory came back before he was sufficiently accustomed to living with and around humans? What would I do if he decided to revert to his past behavior and wipe out an entire city? Neither of us had our guns any more, so he wouldn't be able to use his Angel Arm, but he could use his psychic powers to cause just as many casualties.

Yet another unconsidered component. Did he even know that he had potentially deadly powers? He had implied the fact that he knew I was blocking him from reading my mind, but did he know the limits of his power? I doubted it.

At that moment, Wosh reappeared from the back room, crunching on a handful of cashews and toting a large phone book.

"Hey, kids," he grinned at us, apparently in a much better mood. "Have fun while I was gone?"

Knives "humphed" and I grunted noncommittally. Wosh stared at us for a moment before shrugging and dropping the heavy book unceremoniously onto the long-suffering table. He pulled up a chair and sat down, drawing a cigarette out of a hidden pocket in the recesses of his coat and balancing it between his lips as he flipped open a silver lighter.

"Have an addiction?" I asked, smiling slightly.

"Let's call it an escape," he grunted, taking a long draw from the cigarette and letting the smoke out slowly. "Found her yet?" He asked Knives, who had flipped open the book and was sliding his index finger down the page. After a moment, his finger halted on a name.

"Did you find her address?" I asked eagerly.

"Nope."

"What do you mean 'nope'?"

"I meant that I didn't find her."

"What kind of 133-year-old can't look up a person's name in a friggin' phone book?" Wosh asked with a slight smirk, breathing smoke out into Knives' face. "Sorry, man, but that's pretty pathetic."

Knives glared at the Wosh. "I didn't say I _couldn't_ find it, I said I _didn't _find it. It's not there. There's no Meryl Stryfe in that phone book. She probably decided that she wanted to be unlisted."

"God, it's just one thing on top of another isn't it?" I moaned, running a hand through my hair.

"Well," said Wosh, standing up from the table and tucking the lighter into his pocket and picking up his hat. "Guess we're going to have to ask around a bit."

"You're kidding, right? This city is huge! Where do you expect us to start?"

"Well I, for one, am going to sniff around the Bernardelli Headquarters," said Wosh as we exited the bar, motioning towards a relatively massive building several blocks away.

"I'm and what if we don't find anything there?"

"'We'? No way, I'm not letting the world's first walking, talking Act of God anywhere near the Bernardelli building. They'd have employees swarming and poking and prodding and making you fill out forms before you could say 'legal action'. You and Knives should split up and scope out the apartment district on the west side of Main Street. I'll meet you two back here in three hours."

"Well you're sure taking charge of this situation quickly." Knives quirked an eyebrow.

Wosh shrugged. "Well it's the least I can do. After all, if I had been a more Insurance Girl-attracting outlaw, maybe Ms. Stryfe would never have gone home in the first place."

"Oh, so he _does _have a conscience after all! Isn't that sweet, Vash?"

"Would you two just cut the sarcasm and get going? It'll be getting dark soon and I don't want to have to find a hotel tonight!" I said, feeling impatient.

"Hoping you'll be spending the night in the Insurance Girl's bed instead then, eh, Vash?"

"I said, GET GOING!"

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Fired. _Fired._ I, Meryl Stryfe had been fired from my job. The word danced around evilly in my head as I numbly walked home, drowning in an ocean of self-pity.

Sure, the Chief hadn't used that word, but he might as well have said it. It almost would've been easier if he had stormed up to my desk and yelled "Stryfe, you're fired!" right in front of everyone. The shocked stares and whispers of my co-workers as I had walked out of the office might as well have been branded into my skin with a hot iron for the way they still stung me with every movement.

And the pity. The horrible pity-filled gazes of the Chief and my co-workers right down to Milly's were what really made it hurt. I couldn't stand the pity.

It seemed that the video record of the day—one of the worst I'd ever had—was playing on a repeating track around in my head, taunting me with every excruciating little detail. I barely noticed the long walk home. Only vaguely noticed walking into my apartment complex. And didn't notice at all the pale-blond haired man who watched me enter the building from the next corner.

I only really acknowledged that I was no longer in the office when I found myself in the small entryway to my apartment, automatically placing my keys on the small table next to the door.

I let out a sigh that was really more of a sob and stumbled blindly into the living room, where I was assaulted with a hundred aqua eyes boring into me. If Vash were here, he would probably say some stupid useless cliché like "Well at least you still have your health!" or some crap like that. At his memory and the simple fact of his absence, my vision blurred with tears.

"Why won't you just leave me alone!" I shouted at the paintings. "I don't want you here, you stupid broomstick-for-brains! Stop haunting me and my thoughts! _ I don't want you!_"

With a sob, I picked up an armful of paintings and threw them into the closet, more quickly following them until it was full. The rest I shoved under the couch, all the while crying freely. When they were all out of sight, I fell against the wall and slowly slid to the floor, silent sobs wracking my body. 

What did have left now? I thought for the millionth time today. The man I loved didn't even care enough for me to even try to stop me when I left, and the job which was my only escape from that sadness was now gone until I had "gotten over it". How was I supposed to get over it? I didn't have any experience with this kind of thing. What was it they said about loving and losing? I wish I had never loved in the first place. I wish it had never become anything more than just a job to me.

And yet, there was a part of me that agreed with that old adage. There was no feeling in this world that I had ever experienced which rivaled the feeling I got when Vash flashed me one of his rare true and genuine smiles. No feeling that felt as good as the one I felt when I stared into those sea-green eyes for too long, like drowning in a deep, sweet, warm, and beautiful ocean of happiness.

These thoughts only made me cry harder. The ache of that loss was the worst wound I've ever had. A wound that hadn't healed, only gotten worse with time, festering with some horrible, unknown infection.

I managed somehow to pick myself up from the floor and stumble to my bedroom, where I collapsed onto the bed, rolling myself into the fetal position and sobbing myself to sleep.

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After three hours of trying to convince a group of old ladies with hearing aids that I was looking for Meryl Stryfe and not a "sterile typewriter" and enduring the taunts of a few old men playing cards on a decrepit old porch for three hours, I trudged back to the meeting place, feeling hurt and gypped that I had obviously been given only the section of town where old people lived as my search area. I arrived there second apparently, seeing only Wosh leaning against a lamp post and smoking when I arrived.

"So, did you find anything out?" He asked.

"Nothing. Except that," I paused to check a scrap of paper I had been handed. "Mrs. Nesbit is 'ready for a good time', apparently as long as it involves Bingo Night at the Community Center at seven o'clock on Saturdays."

Wosh laughed quietly for a few moments before removing his cigarette and tapping off some of the ash onto the pavement. "Well, I was a little more successful than that. I got to Bernardelli just as the last of them were leaving. Apparently your Meryl got laid off today. They wouldn't tell me where she lives because apparently 'she has enough to deal with without some shifty guy poking around her house'."

"Meryl…fired?" I muttered in confusion. For some reason, those two words didn't fit together right in my head. "Are you sure it was the same Meryl? I can't imagine her ever being laid off. Quit, maybe, but being told to leave?"

Wosh shrugged. "I dunno, those were the only particulars I got."

"I can confirm what Weirdo says."

I spun around. Knives was walking calmly up to us.

"That my new nickname?"

"Yep."

"Great, I'll add it into the book between 'Black Devil' and 'Scourge of Humanity'."

I growled. "Could we please get back on topic? Knives, how can you confirm Wosh's story?"

"Because I saw her."

I felt my eyes widen to unnatural size, and the words themselves stumbled as they all tried to rush out of my mouth at once. "Wh—uh—y-you mean—where? How did she look? Was she okay?"

Knives' eyes sparkled with mild amusement. "I was just walking around the area when I saw her walk into an apartment building. At least I was pretty sure it was her from the description you gave me. His little 'getting fired' story only confirmed that it was her in my mind."

"How's that?"

"Well, I'll start with the fact that she looked like crap. Probably hadn't eaten in about three days, eyes all red and puffy, mascara smeared all around her eyes. Plus the fact that she nearly ran into about three fire hydrants. Seemed pretty distracted."

"Well where is she? Tell me!" I was practically ready to run off and do a building-by-building search myself if Knives didn't hurry the hell up.

"I wrote down the address," Knives dug through a pocket, eventually pulling out a scrap of paper, by which time I was about ready to rip open his pocket myself.

"He—"

I didn't even allow him to finish his word before snatching the paper and sprinting away in the direction he had come from.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Wosh started to follow until Knives snagged him by the collar of his coat.

"And where do you think you're going, Weirdo-boy?"

"To see Vash's Insurance Girl."

"I think not. Don't worry, they'll probably be busy until tomorrow morning." Knives snorted slightly in disgust. "You're coming with me. I need to ask a little favor…"

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I stirred a little in my sleep, feeling myself slowly waking up, withdrawing from some sad dream I couldn't remember. I shifted slightly on my bed and groaned. I hurt all over, was sore from head to foot.

I was about to try to slip back into the comforting oblivion of sleep when I became aware of the fact that I wasn't alone in my room. Yes, there most definitely was someone else in here. I had a gut feeling. My senses flared into alarm mode, and still feigning sleep, I let one hand slip to my emergency derringer that I kept strapped just inside my left sleeve. I waited, tensed for some indication of the position of the intruder, my ears tuning out all other senses.

_Creak_.

There it was, one of the floor boards behind me.

In one fluid movement, I rolled over, drew my gun, and aimed at the head of whoever dared to invade the privacy of my bed room.

Then I froze.

The person in question coughed nervously and held his hands up in an all-too-familiar sign of surrender.

"Er…I…um…well, the door was open."

"Vash," I whispered.

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Bwaha! Well, there was part 3. It was about two times longer than my average chapter, mostly because I had to get everything that led up to "the reunion" in, and also partially because unless I can crank out another chapter in a day and a half, this is gonna be the last before I'm gone for vacation in Germany and England for two weeks.


	14. Coffee Time

God, I'm so sorry that this took so long! Firstly, you all know that I went on a trip to Europe, but obviously, that doesn't account for the entire wait. I assumed that I'd be all inspired when I came back and turn into some kind of writing fool, but as soon as I started on this chapter, I realized I had no idea what to write nor where I was going with it.

Not that I know even now exactly where this story's going (though what I do know will be a surprise for everyone, well, except for a few of my friends). Anyways, here you go, people. This is the chapter when they get it figured out…kinda. I'm pretty proud, so I hope all ya'll enjoy it.

Special reviewer-lurve to:

Molly-chan the Anime/game fan, Sforzando, KaikaNozomi, Rachel, Rosebud, Shahrezad1, Malster, Alucard2, Auren Hannan, Keeosu-Kei, Kabashka, WW, AmoebaFive, cuteepi96@aol.com, DecoyNeko, FallenStardust, Ayame Ito, V Keller, Kiosukette, Saiyan Butterfly, and Morlana (duuuude!).

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I think I knew how stupid and potentially harmful to my health it was to walk into Meryl's apartment without knocking or anything, but at the time I wasn't exactly thinking things through as thoroughly as I should have been.

Her small but tidy apartment was perfectly suited to Meryl's personality, simple and practical with little excess. Stacks of paper stood at attention on her table, and I could see coffee mugs lined up neatly through the glass door of her cabinet. I had a lingering suspicion that they were arranged alphabetically by the name of their color.

I poked my head around the corner, to be greeted with the sight of another room that seemed to contrast starkly with what I had seen so far. It appeared to be living room that had at one time been orderly, but now looked as if some starving artist and all of his possessions had taken up residence in it. The coffee table had been shoved off to one side, replaced by a paint-spattered, though relatively new-looking easel. Tubes of paint, brushes of every shape and size, and piles of unused paper and canvass were stacked on top of a teetering end table. 

"Hm, never really took Meryl for an artist. None of this seems like her at all. Like an entirely different person…" Suddenly, a surge of burning jealousy shot through me at a thought. _Maybe she has some artist boyfriend who lives with her…a lover…_

My blood boiled, and it took a supreme act of will to bring my focus back to the task at hand.

"Meryl?" I called out hesitantly. "Are you home?"

No reply.

I stuck my head down a hallway, observing the row of closed doors. I crept gingerly down the hallway and stuck my head inside the first door, gritting my teeth at the slight creaking noise it made as it opened. A bathroom, just as neatly organized as the kitchen had been. After a quick perusal, I concluded that all of the products were distinctly feminine. At least the ones I could see. For I knew, _he_ might keep his stuff out of sight. Or have nonexistent hygiene. But I was about to go digging through her bathroom, as that probably wouldn't reflect well on me when she found out, I concluded philosophically.

I closed the door carefully, and continued down the hallway. The next door opened with an even louder screech and I froze for a moment, expecting to see Meryl barreling down the hallway at me, eyes blazing. When nothing happened, I continued, not without a slight sigh.

This room was a bed room. Probably not the main one since it appeared to be completely unoccupied and probably hadn't been for a while. The bed was neat but covered with a thin layer of dust, as was all of the other furniture in the room. Well, no hubby in here. _Unless, of course, he sleeps in _her _bed._ That evil little voice in the back of my head cackled.

I closed that door and cautiously eyed the one last door in the hallway. This one opened without so much as a squeak, gliding open with the slightest touch on well-oiled hinges.

There was a figure on this bed. _A _figure, I noted with relief, and no indication of anyone else ever having recently slept in here. The figure was fully clothed and curled up in a ball, most definitely Meryl-sized.

I eased into the room, shutting the door quietly behind me. My eyes drank in her appearance like a man dying of thirst drinks the sweetest nectar. They traced the line of her back, her hips, her legs, the slightest curve of her feet. My hands itched to reach out and touch her to confirm that she was actually there. Unconsciously, I stepped forward, my foot unfortunately landing on a creaky board which let out a loud groan.

I froze like a thomas in headlights, waiting breathlessly for the figure to stir. To my intense relief, it didn't. 

But just as I'd relaxed, there was a blur of white and I blinked to find myself staring down the barrel of a derringer into the burning gray eyes of Meryl Stryfe.

I muttered some lame excuse and waited for the blow to fall.

**********************************************************

"V-vash?" I repeated, feeling my heart do an odd kind of flip-flop maneuver as my knees turned strangely weak. I became aware that the hand holding the gun was shaking, so I slowly lowered it. I felt my knees just about give out and sat down heavily on the bed. "How--why are you here?"

"If you want me to leave, I will," Vash said, looking thoroughly miserable. The look was, however, lost on me as I distractedly attempted to look at anything in my room but him.

"Um…" I was truly at a loss. What was Vash doing in my bedroom? How did he know where I lived? Was I really awake or just dreaming?

"I'll go then," I definitely recognized the disconsolate tone of his voice that time.

I jumped up quickly and grabbed his arm just as he was about to exit my room. "Wait, Vash!"

He stopped and turned to look at me, quirking an eyebrow curiously.

I blushed and looked down at the floor to hide it. "I mean, it would be impolite of me to make you go without getting you a cup of coffee or something."

I couldn't see his face, but I have a feeling Vash smiled.

"Yeah, coffee would be nice."

As he followed me down the hallway, I was uncomfortably aware of his gaze burning into my back. My mind was still too sleep-clouded to be able to fully comprehend his presence. A coffee would probably do me some good, too.

We entered the kitchen, and I motioned silently for him to sit down at the table. From the sound of scraping chair legs behind me, I figured he had done so.

My body turned onto autopilot as I completed the blessedly familiar task of making coffee. The lack of the need to concentrate on the physical task left my mind to ponder. Waking up with him standing over my bed, it was almost, well…stalker-ish. I always knew Vash was weird but I never figured him to be _ that _weird. Besides, he had no reason to stalk me. Most likely, he had some completely crazy and unbelievable story to explain to me that I had no choice but to believe because he was Vash and that was the way he was. I sighed as I turned around, carrying the two mugs.

"Milk and four sugars, right?" I asked, recalling with slight amusement how Vash always ordered coffee.

"No, I probably need it black right now." Vash said in a serious, deep voice that I only rarely heard him use.

I raised my eyebrows in puzzlement, but set the two cups down on the table, taking the seat opposite Vash. We sat there for a few minutes in silence as Vash stared at his coffee, his expression unreadable. Suddenly, I was reminded with shocking clarity of the night we had gone to New Virginia, the night Knives had awakened. It seemed like centuries ago, though I knew it had only been a few weeks since that happy, carefree day.

"So…are you going to say anything?" I interrupted my own thoughts abruptly, and apparently Vash's as well since his head jerked up to look at me in surprise, as if just now realizing I was there.

"Uh..." he glanced around the room, looking slightly trapped. "What do you want me to say?"

"Well, an explanation of exactly how and why you're here might be in the right direction," I couldn't help but be slightly amused. My expression quickly sobered, though. "Nothing happened with…Knives, did it?"

"Oh! Ah…no, nothing like that. In fact, there's some, er, _interesting_ news in that point," he paused and glanced up at me nervously, as if afraid I might react violently when he told me. "Well, you see…um, my brother, Knives, I mean he's…lost his memory."

My must've hung open a bit for the minute or so I stared at him, because he let out a nervous little laugh.

"So, you mean, he's completely…he doesn't remember any of it?"

"I don't think so," Vash was serious again. "But I'm afraid he might get it back some time. Just today, he got kind of violent about it."

My eyes bulged. "He's HERE? In December? Right _now_? You can't bring someone like that into a city this big!"

"He won't do anything, though!" He leaned back slightly, holding his hand up defensively. "I swear, well, I'm almost completely sure he won't do anything!"

"'Almost completely'!?" I screeched, while some inner part of me wondered how just ten minutes of being around Vash could give me an ulcer. "Vash, this is one of the most addle-brained, insane—"

"He was the one who found you for me."

I think I actually forgot how to speak as the impact of those words, combined with the intense look Vash was giving me, hit me. My mouth flapped uselessly for a few moments, then gave up.

After a time—it could have been a millisecond or a millennium—my thought process restarted like a dam breaking and soon my brain was drowning in possibilities.

But despite all of the things I could have said, only one word escaped my lips. "Why?"

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"Why?"

Of all the questions she could ask…just that one word. God, I felt pathetic. How was I supposed to explain it all? I didn't know if there was enough time in the universe to explain it all. Then, I had a realization.

With just three small words I could explain it all. With just those three words, both of our lives would change. How could I look at her the same way after those three words had been spoken? What if she were to laugh? To look at me with cool gray eyes and calmly explain that she didn't like me that way. I wouldn't be able to bear it.

_ "I wouldn't run away."_

Her voice came to me from the depths of memory. At the time, I had been too absorbed with other problems to think about them, but now I wondered. Perhaps…perhaps all that time, she had felt this same ache that I felt right now. Wishing, dreaming, she could speak those three words to me, but knowing that she never could.

Without my mind's consent, I felt my body rising from the chair and moving slowly to Meryl's side of the table, kneeling on the linoleum before her.

Perhaps she still wished…

"Because I love you." They came out of my mouth, unbidden, before I could even finish deliberating.

I felt myself staring into her deep gray eyes, dreading the moment when she would reply, wishing I could stay in this moment of silence forever. Her eyes drew me up and drew me in, their pull magnetic, irresistible.

"Oh Vash," her words were a whisper, practically a sob, before our lips met.

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Soooo…whaddaya think?


	15. Confessions and Trouble

Wow! I really had a huge reviewer turnout for the last chapter (maybe I should do this waiting long periods of time before updating-thing more often…)! Firstly, I want to thank you all for your enthusiastic reviews. And secondly, I wanted to promise you all that there will almost definitely probably be fluff in this chapter. *Grins* Or there might not be…

Anyways, school has been in full swing for a while so I'll probably only find time to write on weekends from now on in. Hope this chapter makes everybody relatively happy.

"Yaaaay!" to:

Kiosukette, Alucard, Shahrezad, Abby-chan: The Black Cat, Molly-chan the Anime/game fan, Malster, AmoebaFive, ShinyFairyLights, Your_fan, sforzando, Reyan, KaikaNozomi, Kurokumo, WW, PuNkRoCkBuNnY182, Ashley, Redraptor, solar-sun, Kwaili, Auren Hannan, chaotic pink chocobo, V Keller, Vampiigirl, AKU, Odie, and KawaiiMangaLuver. I love you all!

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The kiss was soft, a mere touching of lips, but it was lingering. My mind stopped working. It simply wasn't registering. It was on complete sensory overload. It seemed every nerve in my body was focused on the parts where Vash's touched mine. His fingers lightly resting on my arm. His torso brushing against my knees. And, of course, the most obvious place.

He slowly and almost reluctantly drew his head back, look to the side, an almost confused look upon his face. For a moment I didn't dare to catch my breath. Was this real? Was it just a result my feverish mind had conjured up in response to my emotional distress lately? 

No, it was far too raw, far too real.

"I'm so sorry," Vash drew backwards to crouch on the linoleum, rubbing his eyes distractedly with thumb and index finger. "I don't know what I'm doing. I really just need a good night's sleep and I'll be fine. I don't know what I'm doing." He repeated.

He looked like he was about to get up, but I slid off my chair onto the floor next to him, hesitantly putting a restraining hand on his forearm. He looked up at me in surprise, along with something that resembled fear, in his eyes.

"Vash, don't leave again," I said softly. I still wasn't really thinking straight. I was still in a dreamlike state of shock. I smiled slightly, the tiny remaining logically thinking part of my brain screeching that I had no idea what I was doing or saying. "You always leave me."

"You left me last time."

"That was different. Whenever you left it was with no explanation, no questions, just your little speeches about how my life was more important than my job," My gaze sank to the floor. "What you didn't realize was that my job _ was _my life. I guess I don't have a life now."

"You once said that everyone deserves to live…live in happiness," Vash looked down at me. "Yet why do you deny yourself that?"

I snorted softly. "Because the one and only thing that would make me happy is the one thing I can't have."

"Meryl, what is the one thing you want?"

"You've never been very perceptive have you, Vash? You've known me for three years and you haven't figured it out yet?"

He stared at me, still obviously puzzled. I sighed.

"I want _you_, Vash."

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Well, there it was. She had said it.

It was out in the open and I couldn't say anything.

I turned her slightly so that I could look into her face. Her eyes were brimming with barely restrained tears. I smoothed a lock of black hair away from her eyes and let my fingers linger on her cheek. I could barely control the thickening in my own throat.

"I want you too, Meryl."

Her eyes widened perceptibly. "W-what?"

"I think you heard what I said," I murmured.

"Then what do you want me to do!?" She exploded, shoving me backwards and standing up.

I looked up at her in shock from the floor. Tears were streaming down her face now but her eyes blazed with anger.

"Am I supposed to throw myself at you now? Pledge to stay with you forever? Watch as I grow old and weak while you stay vibrant and young? No, Vash. No. I've gone through enough pain already on your account," she wrapped her arms around herself and turned away from me. "It's best if you'd just go now."

I stood up slowly, feeling a painfully cold emptiness forming in my chest. And also anger. A great deal of it.

"So you think I'm the one always complicating things? That's what you're always telling me. But now it looks like you're the one being a stubborn ass. I became a week-long alcoholic, put up with my brother's sarcasm, somehow picked up an annoying psychic, and walked to the point of exhaustion through the desert just so I could find you. And now you're acting like it's my fault that I wasn't born with a human life span!" I was shaking with barely suppressed emotions. 

She turned her head to look at me and opened her mouth to say something, but I continued barreling on, not sure what I was saying until after I'd said it. Hell, I was on a roll. "So now, after all that shit, you give me your little dramatic outburst. Yeah, alright, I will probably live longer than you will, but isn't that more my problem than yours? Why should we deny ourselves our happiness, even if it's only for less than another century?"

I finished, breathing heavily. She just stared at me, conflict evident in her eyes as she fought an inner battle, that infamous Meryl logic versus the less evident but equally intense Meryl emotions.

I considered her for a moment, then decided that Team Meryl's Emotions needed some extra help. I quickly crossed the distance between us and kissed her, opening the potentially volatile jar of my emotions and letting her see them in my eyes.

I witnessed the glorious and overwhelming victory of Team Meryl's Emotions and felt the resulting passion in her response as she wrapped her arms around my neck to bring us closer together.

_Whoa…this is even better than my fantasies…my back is starting to hurt from bending in this position…oh, I guess we're stopping now…_

My thoughts eventually resumed momentum after a few extraordinarily enjoyable moments and another indeterminate period of time later, Meryl drew away for breath. I was slightly surprised to see that I was breathing just as hard as she was. She drew my head down next to hers and whispered into my ear.

"We're going to have to work on this height thing."

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"Oh, what are they doing now?"

"They're kissing…and they're moving next to the other window…ah, hell, I don't want to do a commentary on this!"

"Then give me the damned binoculars!"

A heavy sigh. "Okay."

Knives and Wosh spied on the pair from a nearby rooftop, taking advantage of their superior eyesight as well as a pair of rather low-quality pair of binoculars they had purchased that the spur of the moment.

"We should've copped up the extra money and gotten the telescope," Wosh muttered as he worked to focus the lenses.

"I'm not gonna pay $$160 just to watch some cheap peep show!"

"It was Vash's money anyway." Wosh snorted and settled into a more comfortable position. After a few moments of silence, he perked up. "Man, things are getting steamy in there!"

"Let me see!"

"No it's my turn!"

"Hey, he's my little brother, I have a right!"

"Little brother? I thought you were twins!"

"Yeah, well he acts like a little kid."

"I haven't seen you making the moves on any girls recently!"

"Shut up!"

After a short scuffle, the two resolved to each take one eye hole and sat uncomfortably before Knives muttered. "He's sure not Mr. Slick when it comes to sweet-talking her."

"You can hear him?"

"Yes, you dolt, I can read his thoughts. Why don't you?"

Wosh straightened proudly and raised two fingers. "Scout's honor. I promised not to read either or your minds, so I'm not."

"Fuck honor," Knives muttered, but simply raised the binoculars again.

"So, Knives, why was it that you really brought me up here?" Wosh's voice behind him was suddenly cold.

Knives looked over his shoulder at the young man and cocked an eyebrow. "You're sharper than I give you credit for." He set the binoculars down gently, compulsively folding the neck strap. "Let's see if you can figure it out for yourself. You probably have an idea by now."

"You want me to tell you about your past."

"Bingo. Vash has been treating me like a fool, thinking I'll never have any desire to know more about my previous live than the pitiful hints that he leaves around for me. You have the power to tell me."

"What if I choose not to?"

"Then I'll make you tell me."

"What do I get out of it if I do?"

"I won't tell Vash the embarrassing little secret about you."

Wosh's eyes widened in alarm. "How—?"

"I'm not as blind as I may look. Most definitely not as blind as my brother is. Not to mention all of the little hints you dropped in your tragic little life story. It's a simple quid pro quo."

Wosh looked slightly trapped. "You play dirty, Knives, real dirty," he sighed. "But I'll tell you what you want to know."

Knives smirked. "I thought you would."

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Ah! It seems Wosh is spilling it all to Knives! But what is the secret that Knives is blackmailing Wosh with? How will Knives react to his newly obtained knowledge? All (or at least some) will be revealed in the next chapter of Something Right!


	16. Painful Retrieval

Yay, another few weeks, another chapter. I was considering being mean and resentful and holding it off because only one person reviewed the new chapter of my Cowboy Bebop story, but I guess I'm just too nice of a person. I should be more mean. But I love my reviewers too much to be mean. So here it is. Eat all your beans; they're good for you.

Five imaginary chocolate bars to:

Chaotic Pink Chocobo, Odie, ShinyFairyLights, Kiosukette, Molly-chan the Anime/Game fan, Rosebud, Shahrezad, Alucard, V Keller, WW, sforzando, Tempest Strife, PuNkRoCkBuNnY182, Abby-chan the Black Cat, and Solar-Sun.

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"It'll go like this," Wosh explained morosely. "I'll draw the memories out of the depths of your mind and reenter them into your conscious thought. There may be," he cracked a sarcastic smile, "some mild discomfort."

"Yes, yes, I don't care. Just hurry up and do it." Knives snapped.

"Alrighty."

Wosh placed a hand on either side of Knives' head and closed his eyes, furrowing his brow in concentration. Knives felt a peculiar feeling, as if someone was forcefully drawing his head towards Wosh's, but he resisted the force. After a moment that stretched to unnatural length, the force stopped, and Knives' momentum caused him to stumble backward slightly.

Wosh paused and it seemed collected himself, and then opened his eyes. They shone with unnaturally bright blue light and in the dim evening haze, they almost glowed. With a growing sense of unease, Knives almost felt himself being drawn into his black pupils, which were swirling pools of midnight in contrast to the burning irises.

"Are you sure about this, Knives?" Wosh asked, his voice uncharacteristically deep and solemn. "Do you really want these memories? You know there's a reason Vash didn't want you to know about them. If you want, I can keep them with me forever. They will die with me and you can start anew; with a clean slate and an unburdened past. Many people would kill for this opportunity, including myself. There's a chance that once you regain these memories, you may long to be able to unburden yourself of them again, and I vow to you that after I redeposit them, there will be no secret you can blackmail me with that could induce me to take them out again."

Knives swallowed, suddenly not as confident as he had been before. He felt doubts creeping up like poisonous spiders, weakening his resolve. Their hairy legs crept and crept…

He mentally swept them away with contempt. Wosh was trying to fool him, to trick him into backing down. He was no fool!

"I want those memories. He said, perhaps a bit too forcefully. Do it."

Wosh sighed and closed his eyes again. "So be it."

In the next split second, there was a flash of pain so intense that it sent Knives to his knees. In his mind, he saw images fly past on fast-forward. _A space ship. Thousands of frozen humans in small capsules. A woman with long ebony hair and sad brown eyes. Vash a small boy, smiling genially at him. Looking in the mirror and seeing himself, a mirror image of his brother but with pale blond hair and ice blue eyes. A crew of other humans, smiling and laughing. Then that same crew angry and arguing, while the black-haired woman tried to mediate. One of the crew members shoving him to the ground and shouting insults. A butterfly entrapped in a spider's web with a spider moving towards it menacingly. Vash trying to remove them both as his own hand reached out and crushed the spider. Vash tackling him, his face twisted in anger. Watching the woman try to calm a hysterical man before the captain of the crew flushed him out to die in space. Looking down the barrel of a guy at that same captain, and pulling the trigger. Programming the ships full of frozen humans to crash to their deaths on Gunsmoke. Escaping in a pod with Vash while the woman stayed behind to try to save them. _

_ Landing on the planet and watching Vash moan in anguish while he cackled over the humans' deaths. Years passing in a blur. Watching human cities struggle into existence. Creating weapons of mass destruction that harnessed their inherent power. Vash shooting him in the leg and running away with the guns. More years passing. Confronting Vash among dead humans. Shooting off Vash's arm and triggering his brother's Angel Arm. Watching in shock as Vash turned it on him. Losing his legs in that blast, then retreating into a plant bulb to heal, while gathering the most evil and twisted of the human race to him to aid him. Watching Vash's torment as he faced them, waiting patiently for his brother to see the metaphorical light. Seeing Vash end a life for the first time, and smiling. Then envisioning an idyllic green grove where Vash approached him, ice in his eyes. The monumental fight, ending in his ultimate defeat. Four gunshots explaining the four small scars on Knives' body, then darkness. Then waking up with indefinable rage, seeking out and finding Vash. Spouting words his overwhelmed brain could not comprehend, then a great struggle. Then darkness once again._

As soon as this had finished entering Knives' brain, he flew back with the force and speed of the thoughts, landing on his back and "oomf"-ing as he had the wind knocked out of him. He heard a corresponding grunt as Wosh mirrored the action several yarz away. Knives mind was silent for a moment that stretched into eternity. Then, suddenly, he felt…

Angry.

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Meryl and I were half in and half out of our clothes when I felt it. My head jerked up from its position at Meryl's neck and my face drained of all color, all thoughts except for one vacating my head.

He'd found out.

I didn't know when, where, or how, but I was dead sure of that one fact. Somehow, Knives had regained his memories.

"Uh, Vash? What's wrong? Why did you stop?" breathed a slightly hazy-eyed Meryl.

"I have to go," I said, dismayed to hear my voice crack with tension. I grabbed my shirt and started toward the door, then turned back. "Don't follow me, okay? Don't go anywhere. Just…just…stay here." I started for the door again, then turned back again. "I promise I'll come back."

With one last, lingering glance, I pulled my shirt on and ran out the door.

As I ran in the direction of the massive, pulsing energy that I knew was Knives, I was quite aware that I probably wasn't in the best condition to be fighting him right now. I was barefoot, my hair was disheveled, my mouth was smeared with lipstick, and I was both emotionally and physically drained. Not to mention the fact that I was in the middle of a heavily populated city that was potentially in danger from Knives. My mind raced back to Meryl. An image of her being tortured to a slow and painful death by Knives' psychic powers flashed in my mind and I shuddered violently.

No, I wouldn't think about that. I couldn't think about that.

I stopped. He should be right here. I looked around frantically, but the street was empty. Suddenly, I heard a choked voice above me.

"V-vash!"

My head snapped upwards like a whip. Atop the building he was standing under, two figures struggled. After a moment, I realized that they weren't actually in contact with each other, and breathed a sigh of relief which instantly turned into a gasp of shock when I realized they were engaged in something much more fatal, a struggle of conflicting energy fields.

It took a millisecond for me to confirm that the two figures were Wosh and Knives.

And another millisecond to see that Wosh was losing.

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Okay…1-2-3, review for me, 5-7-4 review more!


	17. The Point of No Return

Sorry for the exceedingly long delay, but I've always had troubles when it comes to resolving and ending a story (and Something Right is approaching its ending). 

I was reading through some previous chapters, and suddenly a thought hit me: this story could've been so much better if I'd coated it with lots of dramatic irony and several allusions to historical texts!! It would work so WELL! *Cackles insanely*

*Collects self* Ahem. Well, uh, I think Lit class is getting to me. Please excuse me and avert your eyes while I beat myself senseless with this sledge hammer.

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"Wosh!" I shouted. "What's going on? What happened?"

However, he didn't have the opportunity to answer as a sudden burst of energy on Knives' part sent him hurdling toward the ground. 

I stood frozen as I watched him fall, a look not fear nor panic, but a sort of resigned acceptance as his body gracefully dove downward through the air. I heard a loud crack as he landed, yet I had no way to know whether it was his neck or his arm that had made the noise. Knives leapt down after him, landing, cat-like, in a crouch.

I froze, torn between running to help Wosh and staying to face Knives first. I chose the latter.

"Why does it always have to come to this, brother?" I asked quietly, looking pleadingly at Knives.

Knives, in contrast to our last face-off, was perfectly calm, and his voice was low and serious when he finally responded.

"I don't know the answer to that," he shook his head "but I don't know any other way it can end. We were not meant to live in this world together. We're too different…or perhaps it's that we're too much the same. There's an old human belief that twins were meant to be one person, one person that was somehow split into two. We're anomalies of the universe, not meant to exist. Maybe when one of us has passed, the other will be able to live as we were meant to."

"It doesn't have to be that way, Knives! If you'd just open your eyes and look around you, you'd realize that the Plants and humans are interdependent! It doesn't have to end in violence!" I felt eyes on me and looked over to see Wosh watching me quietly. I felt loathe to end that brief moment of eye contact for some reason, but I knew I had to keep my eyes on Knives.

"Yes it does, Vash. You know it as well as me. We're both too stubborn in our beliefs. Can you imagine agreeing with me and changing your views completely?" 

I understood what he meant. I hated it though. I felt sick. Sick at heart, sick everywhere. I hated this. I loathed that I had to make the same decision time and time again, a decision that had no happy endings. I could let him live, risk the lives of multitudes of humans, including those I was closest to, and maintain my principles, or I could kill Knives and save humans from his wrath forever, and thus denying everything I'd based my principles on.

Twice—no—three times I'd chosen my ideals over human life. It was the coward's way out. It was selfish and childish, and I genuinely hated it, but I was afraid of walking through door number two. 

Truth be told, the last time I'd fought Knives, I'd genuinely believed that I could redeem him, that I could change him, but I saw now that that was an impossibility.

I gritted my teeth as I finally accepted the truth.

Knives had to die.

Exactly how that was going to happen, I was not yet sure. Neither of us had guns. The only weapons we had to use against each other were our minds and our own physical ability. I quickly analyzed my opponent, letting my brain stop thinking about _whom_ I was fighting and instead doing an expert examination of _what_ I was fighting, a process I had done countless times.

Knives' main vulnerability was his intolerance for pain. If I could immobilize him that way, I could dispatch him easily through sheer physical strength. However, Knives did have a great advantage over me when it came to mental powers. Mine weak due to disuse. I silently cursed my stubborn determination when it came to not using them. Physical strength would be useless if Knives prevented me from approaching him. Just as I was beginning to despair that I was incapable of winning this fight, I felt a presence inside my head.

_You cannot win alone, but you may be able to with my help._

_ Wosh! _ I exclaimed. _Are you sure you can? How badly injured are you?_

I felt him wince mentally. _Badly enough that you'll be on your own in the physical arena. But don't worry about me. Listen, I'll be strong enough to diffuse any shield Knives puts up. I might be able to deflect a few attacks as well, but I can't guarantee anything._

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, trying to convey a message that could not be properly given mentally. _Thank you._

He smiled weakly at me, his face pale and a touch of emotion in his eyes that was hard to place.

Knives snorted. "So you've recruited the help of the little half-breed? Figures. You still won't be able to beat me, though." He rolled up his sleeves and smirked.

_Half-breed? _I questioned Wosh mentally. He responded with silence.

"Are you ready yet, brother?" Knives sounded impatient.

I turned to face him completely, set my jaw, and pushed away all memories of the brother I'd loved, preparing to never look at them again. In front of me was not my twin brother, only a ruthless murderer of thousands of innocents. I brought to my mind images of Meryl, Milly, Wolfwood, Wosh, and everyone else who had been hurt physically or emotionally by Knives.

"I'm ready." I said quietly.

Knives' expression sobered again. "Then let's begin."

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I paced my apartment, torn, as I always was, when it came to Vash.

_I have to go see if he's alright. I have to help him if something happens to him. I have to save him from himself if the idiot does something stupid and reckless._

_ But he told me to stay here. He did that for my own safety if I get involved, he'll only be angry at me for putting myself in danger._

_ What if he's wounded and no one's there to help him? What if he needs help fighting?_

_ Vash can take care of himself. When's he actually ever needed my help?_

_ One derringer shot could change the course of a fight. I could make that difference._

_ He'll probably hate me if I go against what he said and interfere._

_ I have to. I love him and I couldn't live with myself if he died because I wasn't there._

The second voice quieted and didn't speak again after this comment, so I took it as a good omen and threw on my cloak as I strode out the door.

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Milly couldn't sleep. She had been tossing and turning for almost an hour now and couldn't stand it any more. She sat up in bed and gazed out of the window absently. The day had been eventful to say the least. Meryl…fired from her job. Now there was a thing she thought she'd never witness. Meryl must be distraught. She gradually realized that there were flashes of light coming from an area a few blocks away.

"That's odd, I didn't hear there were supposed to be fireworks tonight…" She murmured. 

After a few more moments of watching the flashes, Milly realized that they weren't fireworks at all, but something completely different. Something that filled her with a sense of strange foreboding.

They were coming from the direction of Meryl's apartment.

She got out of bed quickly and slipped on a bathrobe along with a pair of shoes and hurried out of the apartment, wondering all the while at the steadily increasing sense of impending doom she felt.

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Ooo! The ultimate showdown cometh! Will I be an evil, bad person and kill off Knives? Will I find some kind of floofy, cheesy way to get him out of it? Will I kill off some other random character to satiate my desire for blood??? Review and find out next time!


	18. Sinister Interlude

Okay, my hands are tired of typing, so I'll be brief. Me know long wait. Me sorry. Not many reviewers. Me sad. Stop writing for while. Then start again. Now long chapter.

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All Hell was breaking loose around me.

Light flashed, explosions sounded, and the ground trembled in fear. It was a complete sensory rape that I was virtually helpless to defend myself from. Monstrous winds buffeted me and lightning tore into me in the endlessly long moments before I was able to react and defend myself.

With a burst of effort, I managed to construct a kind of rudimentary mental shield that protected me from the majority of Knives' attacks—for the time being, that was. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Wosh propping himself up on one elbow, one eye squinched shut in pain and concentration, and indeed a good portion of Knives' attacks fizzled out before they were even near to reaching me.

But that momentary lack of concentration weakened my barrier, and one of Knives' attacks tore through it, hitting me in the left shoulder and knocking me backwards with a loud explosion and the sound of sizzling flesh.

Stars burst before my eyes as my head cracked loudly against the wall of the building behind me and I struggled to remain conscious. 

"Get up!"

A voice in my head. Yelling, nagging. Meryl? 

_Get UP, Tongari!_

Wolfwood? No, he was dead.

_How many times do I have to save your lazy ass, anyway? What's the use? You never listen to anything I have to say anyway._

I know your Cross Punisher isn't right under my hand this time, I thought absently.

_No duh, Broomstick-for-Brains, but there's a much more valuable weapon at your disposal this time!_

What? But you know I don't have any bullets in my arm gun—

_Not that, idiot. My brother, obviously!_

Your brother? Who's--?

"Get UP, Vash, you idiot!"

Wosh's voice brought me fully back to reality and I saw him pulling himself forward slightly on his elbow, teeth clenched in frustration and anger mingled with alarm. My gaze sluggishly shifted to where I could see Knives walking slowly toward me.

His laugh was low and mirthless. "Well, Vash, it seems I should've tried this method in the first place! It works much better than with all of those bothersome guns and Angel Arms."

I said nothing, merely glaring at him to the best of my ability though the world was still spinning dizzily around me. 

Knives suddenly froze like a statue, his eyes staring straight ahead and not even a hair quivering. I started with astonishment, staring at him with apprehension until I realized who had caused the transformation.

"What do you see, Knives, when you turn that high-power perception of yours onto yourself?" Wosh's voice, steadily gaining strength from his anger, sounded behind my brother. "It's difficult, isn't it? Even for you, the almighty, the all-powerful, Knives. You don't want to. You're afraid of what you'll see. The emptiness. The undeniable fact that after Vash is dead, you will be alone. There will be no one to talk with, even to argue with, until every year of your long life is spent. Sure, your sisters will be freed from their prisons, but you won't be able to relate to them. You and Vash were the ones who were different. Special.

"And because of the simple fact that you refuse to see the truth, you plow stubbornly on towards a life of oblivion. You will struggle and twist and consume everything there is, searching for some meaning or comfort, until there is nothing left but you. And then, like a starving snake who desperately consumes its tail to live, you will devour yourself until the last bit of life slips out of you and you die, cold and very, very alone. Open your eyes, Knives, and you will see that I speak the truth."

At that moment, the energy that restrained Knives fizzled out and my brother spun on Wosh, trembling with fury and something else—fear.

"How _dare _you say such things to me?" He hissed. "I would crush you like a bug if I weren't worried you would stain my boots!"

Wosh matched his glare, his eyes cold and impassive like mirrors.

As I had apparently been forgotten, I slowly and laboriously stood up, gathering my strength for what would probably be my last stand, and humanity's last chance.

Knives and Wosh might've stayed there forever, neither one so much as twitching, if something hadn't happened that made me feel like someone had dropped a large, cold rock into my stomach.

Almost simultaneously, Meryl and Milly stepped from the shadows of two separate side streets which converged where our battle was presently taking place. Meryl looked pale, but her lips were pressed together in a resolute line, and Milly looked shocked and partially curious. As usual, she was either completely oblivious of how dire the situation was, or was wearing her usual mask to conceal her seldom-revealed perception.

In my mind, I churned out a thousand curses in half as many milliseconds and inwardly sighed. It was not like I'd ever been able to keep them away before.

Knives caught sight of them out of the corner of his eye and his head jerked around. Wosh allowed a smug look of accomplishment to flicker across his face for a moment before it regained its serious expression and turned to tackle the next problem that'd been thrown into the situation.

"Meryl and Milly, the Insurance Girls, I presume." Knives smirked and I felt my heart skip several beats. "I've never had the pleasure of formally meeting either of you in person," he flashed a look at me, "while conscious."

He walked unhurriedly over to Meryl, fully aware that I was barely capable of standing, let alone walking.

"Meryl Stryfe, eh?" He traced a finger along her cheek while Meryl's lip trembled in what was probably restrained anger, fear, or both. "Vash's talked about you so much over these past few weeks of—how shall I put it?—'brotherly bonding' we've been having."

I was practically vibrating with fury, just as much so directed at myself as at Knives for my inability to do anything.

Knives continued. "Still, rather pretty for a spider. Maybe when I destroy humanity, I'll save you for last." He strolled casually over to Milly, regarding her with the same mockingly critical look he had used on Meryl, as if appraising a racing thomas.

"And I suppose this is the other one, Milly Thomson." His gaze slid discretely over to Wosh, then back to Milly again. He smiled a small, knowing smile. "I've heard much about you through the mind of one of my _former_ servants. Nicholas D. Wolfwood. I believe you knew him, didn't you?"

"You talk about Nicholas that way and you'll be sorry, Mr. Knives!" Milly cried, eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

"Oooh! I'll be sorry, will I? Then I suppose I'll move away from that topic. Let's go to another one. How about this; I'll give one of you two the privilege of being the first person to witness my newest waste removal campaign. It's really a great honor."

"Knives, don't do this!" I growled. "Didn't you listen to anything Wosh said?"

"Shut UP, Vash!" Knives shouted. He regained compose after a moment "So whom will it be, the lovely Meryl or the naïve Milly?" He seemed to consider them for a moment as the stood before him, trying their best to retain their dignity to the end. Knives tapped his index finger slowly on his lips. Meryl gazed at me, her entreaty clear in her eyes.

I stared longingly back at her, my soul slowly being torn to shreds within me.

"Looking at my brother for help?" Knives asked, amused. "It's quite useless. He's completely incapable of walking, let alone defending you from me. Don't worry yourself for the moment, though, I've decided that your friend will be honored first."

Milly bit back a sob and tried to face death with the same fearlessness that she usually did, though this long waiting was taking its toll.

Knives slowly raised his hand into the air as he gathered a ball of negative energy into it. It was completely unnecessary since he could kill with a thought if he wanted to, but he was drawing out the tension. Torturing them. My mind generated images of me torturing Knives.

I summoned up all of the remaining energy in my body. Energy which included my life force, and prepared for one final assault that had a miniscule chance of at least knocking Knives out, if not killing him.

However, just as his hand was racing down for the killing blow, and just as I was about to send my energy on a suicide mission to take down my brother, and just as Milly let out a hopeless, fear-filled scream, 

Knives stopped.

I stopped.

The scream stopped.

And it seems the entire world hushed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Gasp* What's stopping Knives from killing Milly? Why oh why would Vash kill himself? And when exactly am I going to finish this story? All this and more in: THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!


	19. Redemption and Farewell

**Chapter 19 **

Frozen in mid-strike, Knives' hand trembled. His entire body shook with strain. The tendons in his neck bulged and his teeth clenched.

I strained my ears until I faintly heard him gasping out words to himself.

"Why...can't I...so simple...why...can't..." He hissed through his teeth.

Everyone present held their breath, fearing that one wrong motion could release the spell that held Knives frozen. It seemed that the situation was going to stay like that for eternity until, finally, Milly summoned up the courage to do something.

It's even more remarkable to me now as I think back on what happened. The one of us that was in the direst and most direct danger was the one that finally did something. Milly's belief in inherent goodness was and is as strong as an iron pillar.

She tentatively reached up with one hand and touched Knives' arm. Knives twitched slightly at this contact, but he didn't make a move to attack. Then Milly began to speak. To this day I still am not sure what exactly she said, for her whisper was intended for Knives and only Knives, but whatever it was must have been powerful. After minutes that stretched on like hours, with gentle pressure, Milly coaxed Knives' arm down. Then, my brother went limp as a dead fish, barely keeping himself upright.

Milly turned to me, Meryl, and Wosh and smiled. That smile, reassuring, bright, and confident, felt like a restoring ray of sunshine on me. At that moment, I also realized that the first touches of glowing pink dawn were approaching on the horizon. No words had to be said; I could feel it. Within one night, the one thing I had been working at for more than a century was complete. The burden lifted up from my shoulders and I felt completely free. As if released from a spell, Meryl ran over to me.

"Are you alright?" She asked softly, the hint of tears shining in her eyes. The cool pre-dawn light made her eyes glow violet and I traced he cheekbone with my hand. _So beautiful, _I thought.

"I'm fine," I said.

She helped me up and together we stumbled across the square towards Milly and Knives, the latter of whom seemed to be yet again unconscious.

"All's well that ends well, eh Vash?" I heard a voice rasping from the ground.

"Wosh!" I turned quickly and landed a little harder than I might've wanted to on the ground next to him. I looked into his eyes and immediately felt tears rising in my own. I had seen that look in the eyes of many men in my life, and I knew all too well what it meant. Wosh was dying.

"Such a crybaby..." He managed a half-hearted laugh that sounded more like a wheeze and coughed violently.

"Why didn't you tell me you were this bad? You wasted all of your energy protecting me and—"

"Shut up, for God's sake." A note of authority entered his voice. "Can't a man die in peace any more? Besides, there's nothing that can be done to change it now. I've done all I ever wanted to do in my life, and my only regret is that I didn't get the chance to tell you the tr—"he was cut off by more coughing. When the fit ended, he reached into a pocket of his coat and pulled out a somewhat wrinkled, bloodstained envelope and thrust it into my hand.

"Read it, Vash." He rasped. "I wrote it in case something like this happened."

"You can just tell me now, we have ti—"

"That's a damned lie, and you know it. All I ever wanted—"More coughing. "This week has been the best I've lived. I'm proud to have known you, Vash. I'm proud to have...to have had you...as..."

The light faded from his eyes and he slumped to the ground.

Tears flowed freely down my cheeks as I slowly closed his eyes and Meryl helped me stand up again. I held the crimson envelope in my hand and stood in silence as I watched the sun rise, tinged with red.

* * *

Both twins were confined to their beds after the incident by two overly protective insurance girls...well, one insurance girl and one former insurance girl.

I didn't have much time to think about my lack of a job since I spent most of my time cooking or cleaning or shopping to satisfy the appetites and needs of two Plants and one Milly. I spent most of my free time talking with Vash, mostly about random, inconsequential, meaningless things at the beginning, then after a few days we talked about what had happened during the period of our separation. Though I was still too embarrassed to tell him about my painting obsession.

After 5 days, I knew he still hadn't opened the letter from Wosh. He was up and about by that point but I still noticed it sitting, untouched and unopened on the nightstand where he had reverently placed it that morning five days ago. The blood was crusted and dry, and it had gone from red to a dark brownish-maroon. However, the word "Vash", written in a dark, steady hand was still visible on it. I thought it would be best for him to read its contents but I wasn't going to push him. He would open it in his own good time. And if his own good time finally ran out, then I would threaten to withhold doughnuts until he did.

On the morning of the sixth day, Milly, who had been taking off work to visit with Knives, announced that Vash's twin was ready to come out of his room.

"He's really feeling a lot better!" She said brightly, setting the table while I flipped pieces of French toast.

"Are you sure, Milly?" I asked uneasily, setting down my spatula and turning to look at her.

"Vash agreed with me. I don't think he'll talk much, but he can be civil enough. Plus, if he stays in bed too long he'll never fully regain his strength."

I sighed almost imperceptibly. It was hard for me to believe that Knives had changed completely. How could his apparently unalterable hatred for humans be reversed in a matter of days? After a long moment of inner struggle, I surrendered and turned back to my French toast.

"I guess I'd better make some more, then. Those two are going to eat me out of my house."

I couldn't see her, but I felt Milly smile. It brightened the room and seemed to cast a warm glow on everything surrounding her. For a split second I understood what had made Knives convert. What hatred could stand in the face of such pure love and compassion?

Ten minutes or so later, Milly and Knives appeared in the doorway, the former supporting the latter. He didn't look up at me as he entered; his gaze was distant and cast downward, strangely confused and sad looking. I tried not to look at him as I bustled around, filling plates and glasses. The look in his eyes reminded me with eerie intensity of how Vash had looked after killing Legato.

Speaking of which...where was he? Meals were usually the only thing he was ever on time for. Not to mention the fact that I had bought a fresh box of doughnuts that morning.

"Vash!" I hollered down the hallway to the guestroom, where both Vash and his brother were staying. There was no response. "Vash...?"

* * *

It stared at me. First portentously. Then accusingly. Finally, it pleaded. I flinched every time my eyes wandered across its worn surface. The blood crusting on it seemed to cry out in lament to its fallen owner.

"I have to open it," I muttered to myself. "He wanted me to read whatever's in it."

Yet despite that fact, an intense sense of foreboding lurked in the deep part of my mind, a part which it usually benefited me to listen to.

In addition to that, another prominent voice that sounded interestingly like an amalgam of both Meryl and Knives' voices shouted _Open it, you idiot! It's a letter, not a bomb!_

That's right, I thought to myself. Nothing to fear but fear itself, or whatever. I gathered my courage, steadied my gunslinger's hands, picked up the envelope, and quickly ran a finger under the seal.

The paper was in surprisingly good condition considering the state of the envelope. The only blood that had soaked through showed in splotchy spots that looked ominously like someone had cried crimson tears onto the letter.

I unfolded it slowly, stopping to smooth it out carefully before focusing on the letters. When finally I'd done all I could and had no other way to stall, I began to read.

_Dear Vash,_

_I've always hated the way that sounded. "Dear". You address a letter with "dear" even if you barely know the person you're writing to. Yet it's more personal than "to whom it may concern". I guess "dear" is more appropriate for this kind of letter, but I still hate the way it sounds. It's hard for me to write this. I imagine you had trouble opening the envelope as well. You've got a very strong sense of empathy, even for inanimate objects_

_That's one of the many things I have to thank you for. Have you caught on to this dark secret of mine? I suspect that Knives has by this point, but you never know for sure. He's impenetrable. Impregnable. I can feel now that he's planning something. I would warn you Vash, but I don't know what to warn you of. I feel like something is going to happen. If you're reading this letter, it obviously already has._

_I'm rambling now, though. My hope was that on paper everything would be easier to say. Okay, gathering my courage. Here goes nothing._

_I told you when we first met that my mother was a prostitute. That she had borne one child before me with a different father, but put him up for adoption. I knew his name. She told me. She was proud of him. His guardian sent her letters sometimes. His name was Nicholas D. Wolfwood. Shocking, eh? I knew you wouldn't have guessed. You don't believe in fate. You believe in making your own destiny. It's a shame that it doesn't always turn out right. _

_That's not all though. That's not why I'm writing post-mortem explanation. I took the liberty of sorting through your thoughts to find parts that would make what I'm saying here more believable. It wasn't hard, really. Remember Nicholas's motorcycle? Named Angelina? It always rang a bell for you, didn't it, though you never could remember why. You assumed that it was due to the fact that you were an Plant. But that wasn't it. You've slept with a few less-than-reputable women in your life span. I don't blame you. More than a century without getting any would be hell. Not long after the Lost July incident, you spent the night with one in some nothing town in the middle of nowhere. Her name was Angelina. She was my mother. And nine months later, I was born._

_I hope you won't delude yourself with excuses and alternate explanations. I knew it from the moment I met you. I knew my lifelong search for my roots was complete. The explanation that I'd always wanted was right there in front of me, with a too-young face and too-old eyes. Where else could I have gained my mental and physical abilities? Where else could I have gained the ability to communicate with Plants?_

_I'm eternally sorry that this is the way I had to tell you. Please don't feel guilty. I was glad just to be able to know you before I died. There's nothing more I ever wanted from this world._

_With affection and friendship,_

_Your son,_

_Wosh_

I dimly heard Meryl calling my name from the kitchen as I let the letter slowly slip from my fingers.

Whoo...that was rather long. And by long I mean both the chapter and the wait. I'm really sorry that it took so long. Most of the time I just forgot about it or put it off. I've had about half of this chapter written for months now, but I was incited to finish it when I got a review today from Divinya9, to whom this chapter is dedicated, asking me to finish it. Hopefully there'll be about 1 or 2 chapters left and hopefully I'll get them done in a short amount of time. Thanks for sticking with me!

-Misoks


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